Reading the Books - The Philosopher' Stone
by stevebond1990
Summary: Dumbledore, the marauders, several teachers and guests are called to the room of requirement, there they meet new people and are invited to read a series of books.
1. Chapter 1

Reading the books

The Philosopher's Stone-Prologue

**Author's note: I do not own Harry Potter, Ms Rowling does anything that you recognise belongs to her.**

**I will only follow the written stories broadly: the troll, the stone, the diary, the basilisk, etc. **

**They will be there but I will be changing the details and adding my own sections, perhaps rewriting whole chapters, so this story will be AU.**

Albus Dumbledore strode through the halls of Hogwarts castle, heading for a corridor on the seventh floor. His mind, however, was focused on the meaning of a rather curious note that had appeared on his desk in a flash (not unlike phoenix fire, now he thought about it), that had requested he gather a number of people in a room on the seventh floor to read a series of books about the future.

Albus had never heard of the specified room before but the note had directed him to ask the house-elves its location if he had difficulty. He had asked the people requested to meet him in the corridor so he could perform a quick headcount before opening the room.  
He frowned slightly as he reached the part of the note that said there would be several visitors from the future joining them.

He was brought out of his musings as he turned into the indicated corridor, the noise of the assembled students, teachers and visitors drawing his attention.

A student with wild, raven coloured hair and hazel eyes behind round, wire frame glasses turned away from his friends as he heard the Headmaster's approach. The other boys, one a tall, handsome boy with stormy grey eyes and wavy shoulder length black hair, the other a brown haired boy of average height with chocolate brown eyes and faded scars on his face, also turned to face the approaching headmaster.

"Professor, what's going on? Why are all these people here?" the raven haired asked loudly, causing all conversation to stop as everyone's attention fell on Dumbledore.  
"I will explain in a moment, Mr Potter, but I must first ascertain that everyone is present." Dumbledore replied, his eyes twinkling as he smiled softly. He then read the names of the list provided:

_Albus Dumbledore_

_Minerva McGonagall_

_Horace Slughorn_

_Filius Flitwick_

_Alastor Moody_

_William Longbottom_

_Augusta Longbottom_

_Charlus Potter_

_Dorea Potter_

_James Potter_

_Sirius Black_

_Remus Lupin_

_Frank Lonbottom_

_Lily Evans_

_Alice Fortescue_

_Malene McKinnon_

_Regulus Black_

_Severus Snape_

_Lucius Malfoy_

_Narcissa Black_

After confirming that everyone requested was present, Albus began pacing backwards and forwards along the corridor, parallel to the tapestry of Barnabus the Barmy.

"Professor" Lily Evans began, "Why are…" she fell silent as, on the headmaster's third about turn, a large door appeared in the wall. She; and everyone else stared (James Potter and his friends shouting 'cool!' instead), as Professor Dumbledore walked over and opened the door. He smiled as he looked inside; he turned to the others and beckoned them to enter, before walking through the door. Lily and James exchanged a glance before they followed the Headmaster inside. The look didn't go unnoticed by the other Marauders, both smiled before following.

The room they entered was roughly thrice as large as the Gryffindor common room and was similarly decorated. There was a number of comfy looking armchairs and couches around the fire place, with several more spread out around the room, on the far side of the room was a long table like the house tables in the great hall, along the wall opposite the fire place (to the left as they entered) was a series of doors with what looked like dormitory plaques, a WC sign and male and female shower rooms.

The group formed a circle around the armchairs near the fireplace as Dumbledore turned to address them. Dumbledore cleared his throat as he began; "Last night I was sent a rather curious letter that stated the war against Voldemort," everyone but the potters, elder Longbottoms and Sirius flinched, "was going badly, while he had been defeated and his physical body destroyed, he was restored to that body after a period of thirteen years. The Ministry of Magic of that time did not believe that he had returned and embarked on a smear campaign against the person who witnessed the event and had sought to warn them."

"WHAT!"

Albus looked at the Marauders, whose outburst had been the loudest of those present; the Gryffindor teens faces varied from abject disbelief to shellshock at the Mintry's/Minister's stupidity. The adults had shown similar expressions briefly, their faces hardened and were now discussing the implications of the Dark Lords end and return.

The Slytherins were somewhere between the two groups in their reactions, not quite believing any Minister for Magic could be so stupid, and horrified by the prospect of the Dark Lord surviving the destruction or death of his physical body, there were only a handful of magics that would allow that, only one was legal (and due to the fact it was extremely difficult, almost forgotten), the rest were dark arts, the most plausible method was considered the darkest art of all. Anyone who chose _THAT_ path was reviled even by the darkest pureblood families; only a monster would fall so far.

Albus held up is hand for silence, continuing when the various voices had quietened.  
"A series of books are being sent back for us to read so that we may attempt to change what is to come, the letter also stated that we may be visited by some of the people whose lives are documented in these books."

Just as he finished speaking there was a rumble from the ceiling, then there was a flash and several people fell from the ceiling to land on the couches and armchairs.

A tall red headed boy and a slightly shorter golden brown haired girl rose from two armchairs on Albus' left and a broad shouldered, dark brown haired boy and a red headed girl sat up from the couch on his right.  
The red haired boy responded first; "What in Merlin's name just happened?"  
The new arrivals glanced around at their new surroundings before focusing on the other people in the room.  
"Good day, I take it that you are the students that were being sent back with the books?" Albus asked in his grandfatherly tone, his eyes twinkling like stars on a clear winter night.  
The red aired boy started first, "Hello, my name is Ron Weasley, I'm 15 and in my fifth year at Hogwarts."  
The red haired girl was next; "My name is Ginny Weasley, I'm 14, in my fourth year at Hogwarts and Ron's sister." She said, taking in the sea of faces.  
Then it was the brown haired girl's turn; "Hi, my name is Lavender Brown, I'm 15, in my fifth year at Hogwarts and Ron's Girlfriend." She said, smiling at a blushing Ron.  
The brown haired boy shook his head, smirking, as he turned from Ron and Lavender to the others; "Hey, I'm Neville Lonbottom, I'm 15, a Fifth year at Hogwarts and Ginny's boyfriend." He said, watching as Ron turned to scowl at him while Ginny and Lavender giggled.  
"Longbottom?" Frank asked quietly. Alice's eyebrows had shot into her hair, her hands covering her mouth.  
"Hi Dad, Mum" he replied, smiling. Frank's jaw dropped, then he turned to Alice and hugged her.

Neville turned back to Professor Dumbledore, "We were chosen to be sent back, but others may come later on." He stopped and looked around for a moment, gazing over the heads of the crowd. "And we seem to have lost a couple of people." He said thoughtfully.

Just as Dumbledore opened his mouth to answer, there was an odd sound behind Neville, like flagstones being dragged across each other. To the right of the fire place, a door frame was forming and a wooden door filled the frame with a strange creaking and groaning sound, like thick oak beams being stressed under a heavy load. With a final groan, the door solidified then burst open, two Gryffindors, a boy and a girl, falling out and landing on the carpet behind a two seater couch, with a squeal of surprise from the girl and a grunt of pain from the boy. They were quite entangled; in fact their hands were in each other's uniforms.

"Harry, Hermione, what were you two doing in a broom cupboard?" demanded Ron, staring down at the couple, disapprovingly. Several of the adults, including Professor McGonagall, Charlus and Dorea, also wanted the answer to that.  
The boy stood untangled himself first, he had coal black hair that was a couple of inches longer than James and deep green eyes, other than the eyes he was nearly a mirror image of James. "No different than what you and Lavender were up to in the secret passage behind the tapestry in the common room" he shot back as he helped the girl, Hermione, to her feet. Ron straightened immediately, blushing as only a Weasley could, as the attention that had been on his friends was turned on him; McGonagall glared at him at the implication of such inappropriate behaviour in the common room, the marauders gave him a shrewd look at the implication of a secret passage they hadn't found yet _and_ that it had been a make out spot _no_ teacher knew about.

Everyone turned back to the new arrivals, who were straightening their uniforms; the boy was slightly taller than James with coal black hair that was a few inches longer, his eyes were a deep emerald green, his cheek bones and nose were shaped slightly differently and he had an oddly shaped scar on the right side of his forehead, it was shaped like a lightning bolt.

The girl was a couple of inches shorter than the boy, with very bushy brown hair that fell between her shoulder blades, deep chocolate brown eyes, soft cheekbones, a delicate jawline and a very curvy figure.

The boy looked around before turning to Neville, "I thought we had half an hour left before the trip?" he asked.  
Neville shook his head, "That was forty minutes ago, we've already introduced ourselves." He replied, gesturing to himself, Ron, Ginny and Lavender.  
"Oh bugger" the boy muttered, blushing as he realised how distracted they had been.  
The girl blushed as well, she glanced at her boyfriend before introducing herself; "My name is Hermione Granger, I'm 16, I'm in my fifth year at Hogwarts and Harry's my boyfriend."  
Harry smiled at Hermione before starting, "I'm a fifth year at Hogwarts, I'm 15, Hermione's my girlfriend and my name is Harry Potter."

The marauders jaws dropped, as did Lily and her friend's. Lily was the first to recover, "Someone had the patience to marry him?"  
"OI" the marauders cried indignantly. Harry smiled gently at Lily, his eyes twinkling like Dumbledore's; "Yes someone has the patience to marry him, he did have to make a serious effort to mature first and I'm not going to reveal who the lucky lady and yes I do mean lucky, by all accounts the new and improved James Potter was worth waiting for. The books will reveal all so you will just have to wait" He said to Lily, who seemed entranced by the twinkle in his green eyes, and the marauders, who had opened their mouths to ask (or maybe beg) who James married and were now pouting at him (well, two of them were pouting, Remus smiling, amused, at James and Sirius' reactions).

Dumbledore smiled at the exchange, "Now, I Believe that you came in order to read some books with us, shall we begin?" he said, gesturing to the furniture around the fire.

Harry and Hermione sat in a two-seat couch next to the fire, Neville and Ginny sat in a pair of armchairs next to them. Ron and Lavender took the next two seat couch, the teachers and Moody took the next set of armchairs, Charlus and Dorea sat on the next couch with Augusta and William behind them. The Slytherins were next, with Regulus and Severus in armchairs next to Charlus and Lucius and Narcissa on a couch. Frank sat in an armchair between Lucius and Narcissa's couch and the Gryffindor girls couch. Alice was sat closest to Frank, with Lily in the middle and Marlene on the opposite side to Alice. The marauders sat in three armchairs on Marlene's side of the couch, Sirius and James' side by side with Remus' between and slightly behind the other two.  
Sirius and Marlene looked quite smug about this, while Lily seemed relieved she wasn't next to James, James was annoyed that he wasn't next to Lily and Remus was amused by his friends antics.

Neville walked over to a small table that appeared in the centre of their semi-circle which had the books and another note. He picked up the note first. "Ok, the books are charmed so we have to read them in order. The titles are: Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, Harry Potter and…"  
"Can you just say the title without the Harry Potter bit?" Interrupted Harry  
Neville nodded his agreement and began again; "Philosopher's Stone, Chamber of Secrets, Prisoner of Azkaban, Goblet of Fire and Order of the Phoenix." He told the group as he picked each book in turn. "Stone was first year, right?" he asked, he picks up the book at his friends positive reply.  
"Now, who would like to read first? He asked the room at large.  
"I will mister Longbottom." Albus said. Taking the book from Neville, he began. "The Philosopher's Stone, Chapter one-**The Boy Who Lived"**.


	2. Chapter 2-The Boy Who Lived

Reading the books

1. The Boy Who Lived

I don't own Harry Potter, Ms Rowling does.  
This story will only broadly follow canon and feature a lot of additions, meaning this story is AU.

"**The Philosopher's Stone, chapter one-The Boy Who Lived"** Albus Read.

"Stupid Title" Harry muttered.

**Mr and Mrs Dursley, of number for Privet Drive, were proud to say they were perfectly normal, thank you very much.**

"That's just boring" complained Sirius.

**They were the last people you'd expect to be involved in anything strange or mysterious, because they didn't hold with such nonsense.**

"Of course" Harry said, sarcastically.

**Mr Dursley was the director of a firm called Grunnings, which made drills.**

"What's a drill?" asked Regulus.

"Muggle construction tool." Sirius replied and everyone stared at him. "What, I took muggle studies"

**He was a big, beefy man with hardly any neck, tough he did have a large moustache.**

"Handsome isn't he" Ginny said, sarcastically, making the other teens laugh.

**Mrs Dursley was thin and brown haired and had nearly twice the usual amount of neck, which came in useful as she spent so much of her time craning over garden fences, spying on the neighbours.**

'That sounds like Petunia' thought Lily and Severus.

**The Dursleys had a small son called Dudley and in their opinion there was no finer boy anywhere.**

Harry and his friends burst out laughing, to the confusion of everyone else.

"Dudley" Ron choked out, "Isn't exactly small."

**The Dursleys had everything they wanted, but they also had a secret, and their greatest fear was that somebody would discover it. They didn't think they could bear it if anyone found out about the Potters.**

"What's wrong with the Potters!" shouted James, Sirius, Remus, Ron and Neville indignantly, the adults frowned at the sentence, sharing but not voicing similar thoughts.

"Everything apparently" Harry replied darkly.

**Mrs Potter was Mrs Dursley's sister, but they hadn't spoken in several years;**

Lily lowered her head, attempting to hide her tears behind her long red hair, she knew her relationship with Petunia was deteriorating but hadn't believed it would become so bad.

**In fact, Mrs Dursely pretended she didn't have a sister, because her sister and her good-for –nothing husband were as unDursleyish as it was possible to be.**

"My father is not good-for-nothing." Harry said in a low growl, Hermione started to rub his back, trying to calm him. Harry had spent most of his life being told lies about his parents, now he knew the truth he reacted badly to anyone insulting them.

Everyone else had backed away at Harry's statement (although James was happy that his son was defending him); his growl had sounded dog-like, the marauders wondering if he was an animagus.

"The world would be a sadder place if Lily and James were like them" Sirius said, drawing small smiles from both of them and nods of agreement from the others.

**The Dursleys shuddered to think what the neighbours would say if the Potters arrived in the street.**

"Hello probably" Harry said.

**The Dursleys knew the Potters had a small son too,**

"Harry!" the future teens shouted.

**This boy was another good reason to keep the Potters away; they didn't want Dudley mixing with a child like that.**

"A child like what?" Hermione asked, hotly.

**When Mr and Mrs Dursley woke up on the dull, grey Tuesday morning our story starts, there was nothing about the cloudy sky outside to suggest that strange and mysterious things would soon be happening all over the country. Mr Dursley hummed as he picked out his most boring tie for work.**

"He has a most boring tie?" Severus asked, incredulously.

"I don't see how he could, they're all boring" Harry replied, genuinely confused.

**While Mrs Dursley gossiped away happily as she wrestled a screaming Dudley into his high chair.**

"Brat" chorused several voices.

**None of them noticed a large tawny owl flutter past the window.**

"Huh" said James

**At half past eight, Mr Dursley picked up his briefcase, pecked Mrs Dursley on the cheek and tried to kiss Dudley goodbye but missed, because Dudley was now having a tantrum and throwing his cereal at the walls. "Little tyke," chortled Mr Dursley as he left the house.**

"Little brat more like" muttered Sirius, causing the marauders and Marlene to nod in agreement.

**He got into his car and backed out of number 4's drive.**

**It was on the corner of the road that he noticed the first sign of something peculiar – a cat reading a map.**

"An Animagus?" asked Alice, surprised.

"Probably McGonagall" replied Marlene "remember when we came into class in second year and there was a tabby cat on the desk and when these idiots arrived late she jumped off the desk and scared the life out of them before threatening to turn one of them into a watch or map" she added, pointing to the marauders.

"It must be wonderful to turn into an animal like that, I can't wait until I turn 17 to try it" Lily sighed, wistfully.

The marauders avoided each other's eyes. Harry looked at Hermione, who raised an eyebrow, Harry glanced at Lily and back, Hermione gave a small nod and looked away, missing the small, mischievous smile on Harrys face.

Lily was staring into space, thinking of what her animagus form could be, when something brushed her leg. She jumped, drawing her wand on reflex, and turned to face what had touched her. She found herself looking down at a sable coated rough collie, which was sniffing, inquisitively, around the bottom of the couch. It jumped when she did and shrank away from the drawn wand.  
She put her wand away and let the dog come closer, oblivious to the curious (incredulous for the marauders) stares she was drawing. As it reached the couch, she noticed that its coat was mostly a mahogany colour on top, white on the legs, chest and belly but with a black patch on the head and bright green eyes.

"Hello" she said, stroking its head. The dog pushed its head into Lily's hand as she scratched his ears, sitting between Lily and Marlene's legs wagging its tail.

Dumbledore shook his head, smiling gently before continuing.

**For a second, Mr Dursley didn't realise what he'd seen – then he jerked head around to look again. There was a tabby cat standing on the corner of Privet Drive, but there wasn't a map in sight.**

**What could he have been thinking? It must have been a trick of the light.**

"Actually it's magic" said Sirius.

"We know Sirius" laughed Marlene

**Mr Dursley blinked and stared at the cat, it stared back.**

"That's got to be McGonagall" said Ron

"It's not McGonagall, I bet a Galleon" replied Remus, Ron fished out his own coin in response.

"I'll take that bet" said James, pulling out a Galleon

"I bet it isn't, even she doesn't have the patience to be around muggles like him" said Sirius, giving his Galleon to Marlene who was recording the bets and holding onto the pot.

**As Mr Dursley drove around the corner and up the road, he watched the cat in his mirror. It was now reading the sign - no looking at the sign; cats couldn't read maps or signs.**

**Mr Dursley gave himself a little shake and put the cat out of his mind. As he drove towards town he thought of nothing except a large order of drills he was hoping to get that day.**

**But on the edge of town, drills were driven out of his mind by something else. As he sat in the usual morning traffic jam, he couldn't help noticing that there seemed to be a lot of strangely dressed people about. People in cloaks.**

"What's odd about cloaks" asked Narcissa, she was very fashion conscious, but also was keenly aware of the need to blend in when traversing the muggle world.

"Muggles haven't worn cloaks for about 150 years" answered Hermione

"We're that far behind?" Narcissa asked

"Further, when the knight bus and Hogwarts express were proposed there was significant backlash from the pureblood families, they didn't want our culture 'contaminated by muggle ideas' and yet both are indispensable now." Neville explained for her, having looked into the subject when Harry asked why both existed when wizards shunned the muggle world.

**Mr Dursley couldn't bear people who dressed in funny clothes – the getups you saw on young people! He supposed this was some stupid new fashion.**

**He drummed his fingers on the steering wheel and his eyes fell on a huddle of these weirdos standing close by. They were whispering excitedly together. Mr Dursley was enraged to see a couple of them weren't young at all; why that man had to be older than he was, and wearing an emerald green cloak! The nerve of him! But then it struck Mr Dursley that this was probably some silly stunt – these people were obviously collecting for something… yes, that would be it.**

"Muggles go to great lengths to explain our existence" said Regulus.

**The traffic moved on and a few minutes later, Mr Dursley arrived in the Grunnings car park, his mind back on drills.**

"He's either really dedicated to his job or has a one track mind" Remus said in wonderment

"One track mind" chorused several voices.

**Mr Dursley always sat with his back to the window in his office on the ninth floor. If he hadn't, he might have found it harder to concentrate on drills that morning.**

**He didn't see the owls swooping past in broad daylight, though people in the road below did; they pointed and gazed open-mouthed as owl after owl sped overhead. Most of them hadn't seen an owl before, not even at night.**

"What's strange about owls in daylight?" Lucius asked, rather curious as he genuinely didn't know this was considered unusual behaviour.

"Wild owls are nocturnal and usually live in the countryside" replied Hermione, Lucius nodded his head in understanding.

**Mr Dursley, however, had a perfectly normal, owl-free morning. He yelled at five different people, made several important telephone calls and shouted some more.**

**He was in a very good mood until lunchtime, when he thought he'd stretch his legs and walk**

The dog's head shot up from Lily's knee, knocking away the hand that had been scratching his ears for the past five minutes, staring at Dumbledore with its undivided attention, its expression seemed to say _' that fat oaf voluntarily exercised'_.

Ron put voice to those thoughts, "That whale actually exercised", making everyone laugh loudly and drawing Lily's attention to the other side of the room, noticing that Harry was missing. She briefly looked around but concluded he must be using the toilet or something, as Dumbledore started to read again.

**Across the road to the bakery, to buy himself a bun from the bakery.**

The dog lowered its head back to Lily's knee, who promptly returned to stroking its fur, closing its eyes in a way that suggested it was thinking 'the world is right again'.

**He'd forgotten about the people in cloaks until he passed a group of them next to the baker's.**

**He eyed them angrily as he passed. He didn't know why, but the made him uneasy. This bunch were whispering excitedly, too, and he couldn't see a single collecting tin. It was on his way back past them, clutching a large doughnut in a bag, that he caught a few words of what they were saying.**

"**The Potters, that's right, that's what I heard –"**

"– **Yes, their son, Harry –"**

Lily wasn't the only one looking around for Harry this time, everyone but his friends, who looked very uncomfortable, was looking for the boy in question.

Dumbledore continued reading as it became clear that they couldn't ask him about this.

**Mr Dursley stopped dead. Fear flooded him. He looked back at the whisperers as if to say something, but thought better of it.**

**He dashed back across the road, hurried up to his office, ordered his secretary not to disturb him, seized the phone and had almost finished dialling his home number when he changed his mind. He put the receiver back down and stroked his moustache, thinking…**

The dog, again, lifted its head and looked at Dumbledore, its head cocked to one side as if to say _'he can think?'_

The teachers exchanged a look at the dog's latest behaviour. It reacted to the reading and interruptions like it could understand what was being said; Slughorn and McGonagall believed the dog to be Harry in his animagus form, it had appeared at roughly the same time he had disappeared and no-one had seen him leave. If that was Harry, they were impressed by how capable at performing advanced magic he was, they were looking forward to teaching him and had decided to have a talk with him later.

**No, he was being stupid.**

**Potter wasn't such an unusual name. He was sure there were lots of people called Potter with a son called Harry. Come to think of it, he wasn't even sure his nephew was called Harry.**

"He didn't even know his own nephew's name?" asked James, Charlus and Dorea incredulously. They were saddened to see Harry's friends nodding glumly.

**He'd never even seen the boy. His name may even have been Harvey or Harold.**

"I would never name my child Harold" Lily declared.

"My father's name was Harold" Charlus said, indignantly.

Lily ducked her head and mumbled an apology, her face as red as her hair. Charlus accepted her apology and went back to listening to Dumbledore.

**There was no point in worrying Mrs Dursley; she always got so upset at any mention of her sister.**

Lily burst into tears on hearing this, both Alice and Marlene moved to comfort her and the collie put its paws on her knee, stood up and nuzzled hear hands gently, trying to comfort her as well.

James watched for a moment before standing up, he asked Marlene to move over, sitting in her spot as she stood and pulled Lily into a hug, rubbing her back gently.

"shhh, It's ok Lily everything's going to be alright. She's just jealous that you have magic, deep down she still loves you, she'll remember someday and when she does, you'll both be happy again." He whispered softly into her ear. Lily didn't push him away, in fact, she fell into his embrace.

After several minutes, Lily calmed down enough to stop crying, she pulled herself from his arms, whispering a heartfelt thank you. James got up to give Marlene her seat back, but found she was already comfortable, in Sirius' lap.  
When she gave James her seat, she had chosen to sit on Sirius (knowing he had feelings for her) and who now was simply staring at her, his expression between complete disbelief and that he'd died and gone to heaven.

James returned to the spot on the couch but sat away from Lily, knowing that his usual behaviour would be inappropriate and insensitive. The collie resumed its place between Lily and James' legs and rested its head on Lily's knee again, who resumed stroking its fur.

**He didn't blame her – if he'd had a sister like that…**

**But all the same, those people in cloaks…**

**He found it a lot harder to concentrate on drills that afternoon and when he left the building at five o'clock, he was still so worried that he walked straight into someone just outside the door.**

"**Sorry" he grunted as the tiny old man stumbled and nearly fell.**

Harry's friends seemed amazed that Mr Dursley knew how to apologise.

**It was a few seconds before Mr Dursley realised that the man was wearing a violet cloak. The old man didn't seem upset at almost being knocked to the ground. On the contrary, his face split into a wide smile and he said in a squeaky voice that made passers-by stare, "Don't be sorry, my good fellow, for nothing could upset me today! Rejoice for You-Know-Who has gone at last! Even muggles like yourself should be celebrating this happy, happy day!"**

There was a stunned silence for several seconds until the marauders cheered, the adults and even Regulus joining in.

It was several moments that included; Marlene hugging Sirius and James and Lily dancing briefly, before Regulus and Remus noticed Harry's friends weren't joining in.

"Why aren't you guys happy?" asked the younger Black, drawing the attention of everyone else.

"A heavy price was paid" Neville answered simply.

As everyone returned to their seats, Hermione turned to the dog, "Harry, you can change back now"

Everyone was confused for a moment, as the dog stepped away from Lily and James and into the centre of the circle.  
Lily opened her mouth to ask what was going on, when the dog changed back into Harry. He turned to her and smiled before walking over to re-join Hermione.

Most people were shocked that he could perform such advanced magic at his age (Lily was a little jealous too), apart from Sirius who was thinking dog animagi rule and James who was very proud of his son.

Dumbledore gave Harry one last look, his eyes twinkling like mad, then returned to the book.

**And the old man hugged Mr Dursley around the middle and walked off.**

"Could that have been you Professor Flitwick?" asked Ginny

"It may well have been Miss Weasley" the diminutive charms professor replied.

**Mr Dursley stood rooted to the spot. He had been hugged by a complete stranger. He had been called a muggle, whatever that was. He was rattled. He hurried to his car and set off for home, hoping he was imagining things, which he had never done before, because he didn't approve of imagination.**

"How can anyone not approve of imagination?" Sirius asked, incredulously.

"Lavender couldn't live in a world without imagination, because, without imagination fashion stays the same." Harry said, watching as realisation dawned on both Lavender's and, to his surprise, Narcissa's faces.

Everyone laughed as they both screamed in Horror.

**As he pulled into driveway of number 4, the first thing he saw – and it didn't improve his mood – was the tabby cat he'd spotted that morning. It was now sitting on the garden wall. He was sure it was the same one; it had the same markings around its eyes.**

The betters shared a look.

"**Shoo" said Mr Dursley loudly.**

**The cat didn't move. It just gave him a stern look.**

Sirius and Remus were getting nervous.

**Was this normal cat behaviour? Mr Dursley wondered. Trying to pull himself together, he let himself into the house. He was still determined not to mention anything to his wife.**

**Mrs Dursley had had a nice normal day. She told him over dinner all about Mrs Next Doors problems with her daughter and how Dudley had learnt a new word, 'Won't', **

"She's going to regret that"

**Mr Dursley tried to act normally. When Dudley had been put to bed, he went into the living room to catch the last report on the evening news:  
"And finally, bird-watchers everywhere have reported that the nations owls have been behaving very unusually today. Although owls normally hunt at night and are hardly ever seen in daylight, there have been Hundreds of sightings of these birds flying in all directions since sunrise. Experts are unable to explain why the owls have changed their sleeping patterns." The newscaster allowed himself a grin.**

"He knows doesn't he" stated Severus, speaking for the first time.

"He's probably a squib or muggle-born" Ron replied.

As Dumbledore opened his mouth to read again, there was a flash followed by three loud thuds and a chorus of yelps.

Harry and his friends turned around in their seats to see the new arrivals.

Lying in a heap was Fred and George Weasley and Nymphadora Tonks. After untangling themselves, they stood up and surveyed the room.

"Everyone, this is Fred and George Weasley and Nymphadora Tonks. Thanks for joining us guys." Harry said, pointing to each person in turn and dodging a hex from Tonks. "And Tonks doesn't like her first name."

Tonks grumbled as she took a seat next to the twins, who had sat on a couch next to Harry and Hermione, Fred and George stared at Harry in disbelief.

"How can you tell us apart…" Fred began.

"…Harry? Not even our own family can do that." George continued.

"It's the secret to our success as pranksters." They finished together.

Professors Slughorn, Flitwick and McGonagall exchanged a worried look, the marauders were bad enough, but prankster twins might push them into retirement early. Two of the marauders, however, looked like Christmas had come early.

"You'll find out later" Harry answered, smiling; he knew it would drive them nuts.

Albus started to read again.

"**Most mysterious. And now, over to Jim McGuffin with the weather. Going to be any any more showers of owls tonight, Jim?"**

"**Well Ted" said the weatherman.**

"Hey Tonks is that your dad?" asked one of the twins

"I think it is Fred, he used to work for the BBC" replied Tonks.

"He's not Fred, I am" exclaimed the other twin

"Honestly, it can't be that hard to tell us apart if Harry can do it" said the first twin

Tonks glared at Harry, who smiled, innocently, back at her. Sirius and James glanced at each other, grinning evilly.

"**I don't know about that, but it's not only the owls that have been acting oddly today. Viewers as far apart as Kent, Yorkshire and Dundee have been phoning in to tell me that instead of the rain I promised yesterday, they've had a downpour of shooting stars! Perhaps people have been celebrating Bonfire night early – it's not until next week! But I can promise a wet night tonight."**

**Mr Dursley sat frozen in his armchair. Shooting stars all over Britain? Owls flying by daylight? Those people in cloaks? And a whisper, a whisper about the Potters…**

"Merlin! He's putting it together" exclaimed Lucius.

**Mrs Dursley came into the living room with two cups of tea. It was no good. He would have to say something to her. "Er – Petunia,dear – you haven't heard from your sister lately, have you?"**

**As he expected, Mrs Dursley looked shocked and angry. After all, they normally pretended she didn't have a sister.**

Lily sighed and lowered her head, trying to hide in her hair. James took her hand and began rubbing circles on it with his thumb.

"**No," she said sharply. "Why?"**

"**Funny things on the news," Mr Dursley mumbled. "Owls… shooting stars… and there a lot of funny looking people in town today…"**

"**So?" snapped Mrs Dursley.**

"**Well, I just thought… maybe… it was something to do with… you know… her crowd"**

"What does she mean by 'her crowd'?" asked William, hotly.

"Us" said Harry.

**Mrs Dursley sipped her tea through pursed lips. Mr Dursley wondered whether he dared tell her he'd heard the name'Potter'. He decided he didn't dare. Instead he said, as casually as he could, "their son – he'd be about Dudley's age now, wouldn't he?"**

"**I suppose so", said Mrs Dursley stiffly.**

"**What's his name again? Howard, isn't it?"**

"**Harry. Nasty, common name, if you ask me"**

"Nobody asked you" Hermione snapped. "I think it's a fine name for a fine boy" she finished, in a gentler voice.

Harry smiled, softly, and leaned over to give her a small kiss on her cheek, making her blush.

"**Oh yes," said Mr Dursley, his heart sinking horribly. "Yes, I quite agree." He didn't say another word on the subject as they went upstairs to bed. While Mrs Dursley was in the bathroom, Mr Dursley crept to the bedroom window and peered down into the front garden. The cat was still there, it was staring down the road as if waiting for something. Was he imagining things?**

**Could all this have anything to do with the Potters? If it did… if it got out that they were related to a pair of – well, he didn't think he could bear it.**

**The Dursleys got into bed.**

Sirius, James, Fred, George and Tonks all gasped and covered their eyes, nearly everyone laughed at their antics, except Lily, Hermione and Dorea who noticed Harry' reaction, his eyes were wide open, as if in horror, and he looked like he was going to be sick.

**Mrs Dursley fell asleep quickly but Mr Dursley lay awake, turning it all over in his mind. His last, comforting thought was that even if the Potters were involved, there was no reason for them to come near him and Mrs Dursley. The Potters knew very well what he and Petunia thought about them and their kind… He couldn't see how he and Petunia could get mixed up in anything going on – he yawned and turned over – it couldn't affect them…**

**How very wrong he was.**

**Mr Dursley may have been drifting into an uneasy sleep, but the cat outside on the wall was showing no signs of sleepiness.**

"Does McGonagall ever? I swear that she spends most nights prowling the halls trying to catch us or them out after curfew." Complained Fred, gesturing to Harry, Ron and Hermione who all smiled innocently.

Lily, McGonagall, Charlus and Dorea looked disapprovingly at them, while the marauders and Marlene smiled at them.

**It was sitting as still as a statue, its eyes fixed unblinkingly on the far corner of Privet Drive. It didn't so much as quiver when a car door slammed in the next road, or when two owls swooped low overhead. In fact, it was nearly midnight before the cat moved at all. A man appeared on the corner the cat had been watching, appearing so suddenly and silently you'd have thought he had just popped out of the ground. The cat's tail twitched and its eyes narrowed.**

**Nothing like this man had ever been seen on Privet Drive. He was tall, thin and very old, judging by the silver of his hair and beard, both of which were long enough to tuck into his belt. He was wearinglong robes, a purple cloak that swept the ground and high-heeled, buckled boots. His blue eyes were light, bright and sparkling behind half-moon spectacles and his nose was very long and crooked, as though it had been broken at least twice.**

**This man's name was Albus Dumbledore.**

"Who else?" Harry said as several people cheered.

**Albus Dumbledore didn't seem to realise that he had just in a road where everything from his name to his boots was unwelcome.**

"He probably knew, just didn't care" muttered Harry.

**He was busy rummaging in his cloak for something. But he did seem to realise he was being watched, because he looked up suddenly at the cat, which was still staring at him from the other end of the road. For some reason the cat seemed to amuse him. He chuckled and muttered "I should have known."**

Sirius and Remus were now very nervous.

**He found what he had been looking for in his inside pocket. It seemed to be a silver cigarette lighter. He flicked it open, held it in the air, and clicked it. The nearest lamppost went out with a little pop. He clicked it again – the next light flickered into darkness. Twelve times he clicked the Put-Outer,**

"That's its name?" Remus asked.

"Deluminator, actually" Harry answered him. "I borrowed it once for a prank" he said in answer to everyone's curious stares.

**Until the only lights left on the whole road were two tiny pinpricks in the distance, which were the eyes of the cat watching him. If anyone looked out of their window now, even beady-eyed Mrs Dursley, they wouldn't be able to see anything that was happening down on the pavement. Dumbledore slipped the Put-Outer back inside his cloak and set off down the road toward number 4, where he sat down on the wall next to the cat. He didn't look at it, but after a he moment spoke to it.  
"Fancy seeing you here, Professor McGonagall."**

Sirius and Remus groaned and handed over the money.

**He turned to smile at the tabby, but it had gone. Instead, he was smiling at a rather severe-looking woman who was wearing square glasses exactly the shape of the markings the cat had around its eyes. She, too, was wearing a cloak, an emerald green one. Her black hair was drawn into a tight bun. She looked distinctly ruffled.**

"**How did you know it was me?" she asked.**

"**My dear Professor, I have never seen a cat sit so stiffly."**

"**You would be stiff too if you been sitting on a brick wall all day." Said Professor McGonagall.**

"**All day? When you could have been celebrating? I must have passed a dozen feasts and parties on my way here."**

**Professor McGonagall sniffed angrily.**

"**Oh yes, everyone's celebrating, all right," she said impatiently. "You'd think they'd be a bit more careful, but no – even the muggles have noticed something's going on. It was on their news." She jerked her head back at the Dursley's dark living-room window. "I heard it. Flocks of owls… shooting stars… Well, they're not completely stupid. They were bound to notice something. Shooting stars down in Kent – I'll bet that was Dedalus Diggle. He never had much sense."**

"**You can't blame them," Dumbledore said gently, "we've had precious little to celebrate for eleven years."**

Everyone but the time-travellers seemed caught between glad knowing when the war would end and scared that they would have to endure another 6 years of conflict.

"**I know that," said Professor McGonagall irritably. "But that's no reason to lose our heads. People are being downright careless, out on thhe streets in broad daylight, not even dressed in muggle clothes, swapping rumors."**

**She threw a sharp, sideways glance at Dumbledore here, as though she was hoping he was going to tell her something, but he didn't, so she went on. "A fine thing it would be if, on the day You-Know-Who seems to have disappeared at last, the muggles found out about us. I suppose he really has gone, Dumbledore?"**

"**It certainly seems so," said Dumbledore, "We have much to be thankful for. Would you care for a lemon drop."**

"A what?" asked Frank.

"**A what?"**

"Hey Neville, your dad thinks like Minnie" said Ron, amused

Neville and Frank blushed, while Minerva and the other adults, minus Dumbledore, frowned at the use of the nickname. Sirius and James smiled, pleased to see someone else who called her that.

"**A lemon drop, they're a kind of muggle sweet I'm rather fond of"**

"**No, thank you," said Professor McGonagall, as though she didn't think this was the moment for lemon drops. "As I say, even if You-Know-Who has gone – "**

"**My dear Professor, surely a sensible person like yourself can call him by his name? All this You-Know-Who nonsense – for eleven years I have been trying to persuade people to call him by his proper name-**_**Voldemort.**_**"**

Most of the room flinched.

**Professor McGonagall flinched, but Dumbledore, who was unsticking two lemon drops, didn't seem to notice. "It all gets so confusing if we keep saying 'You-Know-Who.' I have never seen any reason to be frightened of saying Voldemort's name."**

Again, most people in the room flinched at the name. Dumbledore frowned at those who had flinched; noting the visitors and the marauders hadn't flinched, and said "fear of a name will only increase your fear of the thing itself."

"And an enemy that is already afraid, is already half defeated," Harry added, "an opponent that would otherwise resist will be too paralysed by fear to do so, greatly handicapping any effort to organise an effective defence."

Everyone stared at him for a moment, before realising he was right. Dumbledore and Moody nodded approvingly.

"**I know you haven't," said Professor McGonagall, sounding half exasperated, half admiring. "But you're different. Everyone knows that you're the only one You-Know- oh, all right, Voldemort, was afraid of."  
"You flatter me," Dumbledore said calmly. "Voldemort had powers I will never have."  
"Only because you're too – well – noble to use them."  
"It's lucky it's dark. I haven't blushed this much since Madame Pomfrey told me she liked my new earmuffs."**

**Professor McGonagall shot a sharp look at Dumbledore and said, "The owls are nothing compared to the **_**rumors**_** flying around. You know what everyone's saying? About why he's disappeared? About what finally stopped him?"**

Most people in the room leaned forwards in their seats, intrigued. Harry, however, had leaned forward and put his head in his hands.

**It seemed that Professor McGonagall had reached the point she was most anxious to discuss, the real reason she had been sitting on a cold, hard wall all day, for neither as a cat nor as a woman had she fixed Dumbledore with such a piercing stare as she did now. It was plain that whatever 'everyone' was saying, she was not going to believe it until Dumbledore told her it was true. Dumbledore, however, was choosing another lemon drop and did not answer.**

"**What they're saying," she pressed on, "is that last night Voldemort turned up in Godric's Hollow. He went to find the Potters. The rumor is that Lily and James Potter are- are- that they're dead."**

The room fell silent at this; Lily broke down in tears, James pulled her into a hug mumbling "Please… no, please... god, no…" There wasn't a dry eye in the room. Hermione put an arm around Harry's shoulders as she saw he was crying too, being told about this as you grew up was one thing, but she couldn't imagine what it must feel like to hear it as if it had just happened.

**Dumbledore bowed his head, Professor McGonagall gasped.  
"Lily and James… I can't believe it… I didn't want to believe it… oh, Albus…"**

"I didn't know you cared, Professor" James said. McGonagall gave him a weak smile.

**Dumbledore reached out and patted her shoulder. "I know… I know…" he said heavily.**

**Professor McGonagall's voice trembled as she went on. "That's not all. They're saying he tried to kill their son, Harry. But – he couldn't. He couldn't kill that little boy. No-one knows why or how, but they're saying that when he couldn't kill Harry, Voldemort's power somehow broke – and that's why he's gone."**

Everyone stared at Harry, dumbstruck, even Dumbledore. But Harry kept his head down, refusing to meet their eyes, so Albus continued to read.

**Dumbledore nodded glumly.**

"**It's true?" faltered Professor McGonagall. "After all he's done… all the people he's killed… he couldn't kill a little boy? It's just astounding… of all the things to stop him… but how on the name of heaven did Harry survive?"**

"I think we would all like to know." Said Professor Slughorn.

"**We can only guess," said Dumbledore. "We may never know."**

"Meaning you have a plausible theory, but don't want to commit to it without hard evidence." Said Harry, bitterly, finally raising his head, his eyes were still very red.

**Professor McGonagall pulled out a lace handkerchief and dabbed at her eyes behind her glasses.  
Dumbledore gave a great sniff as he took a golden watch from his pocket and examined it. It was a very odd watch. It had twelve hands but no number. Instead, little planets were moving around the edge.**

**It must have made sense to Dumbledore, though, as he put it back into his pocket and said, "Hagrid's late. I suppose it was he who told you I'd be here, by the way?"**

"**Yes," said Professor McGonagall. "And I don't suppose you're going to tell me **_**why**_** you're here, of all places."  
"I've come to bring Harry to his aunt and uncle. They're the only family he has left now."**

"No!" cried Lily, "They won't look after him; if they keep him he'll be treated like a house-elf."

"I will have had an important reason to put him there, Miss Evans" Dumbledore replied calmly, although, he did wonder to himself why he would do it.

"**You don't mean – you can't mean the people who live here?" cried Professor McGonagall, jumping to her feet and pointing at number 4. "Dumbledore – you can't. I've been watching them all day. You couldn't find two people who are less like us. And they've got this son – I saw him kicking his mother all the way up the road, screaming for sweets.**

"Brat" everyone muttered.

**Harry Potter come and live here!"**

"Thank you for trying Professor." Harry said sadly, Professor McGonagall gave him a sad smile.

"**It's the best place for him," said Dumbledore firmly. "His aunt and uncle will be able to explain everything to him when he is older. I've written them a letter."**

"A LETTER?" Screamed both Hermione and Lily, everyone winced at the sound of their voices. "You think that a letter is enough to explain this?" Dumbledore flinched.

Harry and James stood to pull both girls back into their seats. "Dumbledore likes to see the best in people; he has a hard time accepting how bad someone can be without seeing it himself. He was probably hoping that Petunia could put aside her petty differences after the tragedy." Harry said gently to Hermione, calming her down.

James must have said something similar to Lily as she sat back down too, both girls continued to shoot the headmaster dirty looks, however. They weren't the only ones glaring at the headmaster, as he continued, either.

"**A letter?" repeated Professor McGonagall faintly, sitting back down on the wall. "Really, Dumbledore, you think you can explain all this in a letter? These people will never understand him! He'll be famous – a legend – I wouldn't be surprised if today was known as Harry Potter day in the future – there will be books written about Harry – every child in our world will know his name!"**

"**Exactly, Dumbledore said, looking at her very seriously **

"Don't" Remus said to Sirius, who had been about to speak.

**over the top of his half-moon spectacles. "It would turn any boy's head. Famous before he can walk and talk! Famous for something he won't even remember! Can't you see how much better off he'll be, growing up away from all that until he's ready to take it?"**

**Professor McGonagall opened her mouth, changed her mind, swallowed and then said, "Yes – yes, you're right. But how is the boy getting here, Dumbledore?" She eyed his cloak as if she thought he might be hiding Harry under it.**

"**Hadrid is bringing him."**

"**You think it – wise – to trust Hagrid with something as important as this?"**

"I would trust Hagrid with my life," Harry, Ron and Hermione said together.

"**I would trust Hagrid with my life," said Dumbledore.**

"**I'm not saying his heart isn't in the right place," Professor McGonagall grudgingly admitted, "but you can't pretend that he isn't careless. He does tend to – what was that?"**

**A low rumbling sound had broken the silence around them. It grew steadily louder as they looked up and down for some sign of a headlight; it swelled to a roar as they both looked up at the sky – and a huge motorcycle fell out of the air and landed on the road in front of them.**

"Cool!" shouted the male students. Sirius turned to Regulus, who Sirius hadn't expected to say anything, "I'm not our parents, Sirius."

**If the motorcycle was huge, it was nothing to the man sitting astride it. He was twice as tall as a normal man and at least five times as wide. He looked simply too big to be allowed, and so wild – long tangles of bushy black hair and beard hid most of his face, he had hands the size of dustbin lids, and his feet in their leather boots were like baby dolphins. In his vast, muscular arms he was holding a bundle of blankets.**

"**Hagrid," said Dumbledore, sounding relieved. "At last and where did you get that motorcycle?"**

"**Borrowed it, professor Dumbledore, sir," said the giant, climbing off the motorcycle as he spoke. "Young Sirius Black lent it to me."**

"It's mine," Sirius said softly, eyes open wide in surprise. He sat staring for a moment, then got up, taking Marlene with him, and did a happy dance with her. He sat back down, with Marlene still in his lap after a moment.

"**I've got him, sir."**

"**No problems, were there?"**

"**No, sir – house was almost destroyed, but I got him out before the muggles started swarming around. He fell asleep just as we were flying over Bristol."**

**Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall lent forward over the bundle of blankets. Inside, just visible, was a baby boy, fast asleep.**

The women in the room cooed at that. Harry blushed and said "said baby is in the room and not a baby anymore."

**Under a tuft of black hair over his forehead they could just see a curiously shaped cut, like a bolt of lightning.**

Harry lifted his bangs to show everyone the scar to prevent everyone staring at him later.

"**Is that where - ?" whispered Professor McGonagall.**

"**Yes," said Dumbledore. "He'll have that scar forever."**

"**Couldn't you do something about it, Dumbledore?"**

"**Even if I could, I wouldn't. Scars can come in handy. I have one myself above my left knee that is a perfect map of the London Underground. Well – give him here, Hagrid – we'd better get this over with."**

**Dumbledore took Harry in his arms and turned towards the Dursley's house.**

"**Could I – could I say goodbye to him, sir?" asked Hagid. He bent his great, shaggy head over Harry and gave him what must have been a very scratchy, whiskery kiss.**

**Then, suddenly, Hagrid let out a howl like a wounded dog.**

"Hey! I take offense to that." Shouted Sirius, Harry and, to everyone's surprise, Hermione.

Hermione blushed as Sirius stared and Harry smiled.

"**Shhh!" hissed Professor McGonagall, "You'll wake the muggles!"**

"**S-s-sorry," sobbed Hagrid, taking out a large, spotted handkerchief and burying his face in it. "But I c-c-can't stand it – Lily and James dead – and poor little Harry off ter live with muggles."**

"**Yes, yes, it all very sad, but get a grip on yourself, Hagrid, or we'll be found,"**

"That was very insensitive, Professor." Harry said angrily.

Professor McGonagall looked ashamed.

**Professor McGonagall whispered, patting Hagrid gingerly on the arm as Dumbledore stepped over the low garden wall and walked to the front door. He laid Harry on the doorstep, took a letter and a strange stick out of his cloak, tucked the letter inside Harry's blankets, waved the stick and muttered some strange words; he then returned the stick to the pocket of his cloak and came back to the other two.**

"You left him on a doorstep, in November, on a night when rain was forecast?" said Lily in a dangerously calm voice.

"As described, I didn't leave from unprotected from either the elements or unsavoury individuals." Dumbledore replied, trying to calm the young witch.

**For a full minute the three of them stood and looked at the bundle; Hagrid's shoulders shook, Professor McGonagall blinked furiously, and the twinkling light that usually shone from Dumbledore's eyes seemed to have gone out.**

"**Well," said Dumbledore finally, "that's that. We've no business staying here. We may as well join the celebrations."**

"**Yeah, said Hagrid in a very muffled voice, "I best get this bike back to Sirius. G'night Professor McGonagall – Professor Dumbledore, sir."**

**Wiping his streaming eyes on his coat sleeve, Hagrid swung himself onto the motorcycle and kicked the engine into life; with a roar it rose into the air and off into the night.**

"**I shall see you soon I expect, Professor McGonagall," said Dumbledore, nodding to her. Professor McGonagall blew her nose in reply.**

**Dumbledore turned and walked back down the road. On the corner he stopped and took out the silver Put-Outer. He clicked it once and twelve balls of light sped back to the lampposts so that Privet Drive suddenly glowed orange and he could make out a tabby cat slinking around the corner at the other end of the road. He could just see the bundle of blankets on the step of number 4.**

"**Good luck, Harry," he murmured. He turned on his heal and with a swish of his cloak, he was gone.**

**A breeze ruffled the neat hedges of Privet Drive, which lay silent and tidy under the inky sky, the very last place you would expect astonishing things to happen. Harry Potter rolled over inside his blankets without waking up. One small hand closed on the letter beside him, not knowing he was special, not knowing he was famous, not knowing that he would be woken in a few hours' time by Mrs Dursley's scream as she put out the milk bottles, nor that he would spend the next few weeks being prodded and pinched by his cousin Dudley… he couldn't know that at this very moment, people meeting in secret all over the country were holding up their glasses and saying in hushed voices; "To Harry Potter – The Boy-Who-Lived!"**

"That is the end of the chapter, who would like to read next?" asked Albus.

"I will, Albus," said Professor Slughorn. Albus handed the book to his potions teacher.

"Chapter-2, **The Vanishing glass**" he began.


	3. Chapter 3-The Vanishing Glass

The Vanishing Glass

"**The Vanishing Glass" **said Professor Slughorn.

"Is that accidental magic I'm hearing?" asked Sirius excitedly

"Yes, Sirius," Harry said, noticing the strange glint in his eye, something he associated with the twins when they were waiting for a prank to go off in the Great Hall. "You blew something up, didn't you?" he sighed

Sirius nodded, grinning, as Horace continued.

**Nearly ten years had passed since the Dursleys had awoken to find their nephew on the front step, but Privet Drive had hardly changed at all. The sun rose over the same tidy front gardens,**

'Petunia hates gardening' Lily and Severus thought.

"Tidy because I looked after it," Harry muttered under his breath, Hermione heard him and shot him a questioning look, Remus also heard and also looked at him but Harry had turned to Hermione and didn't see.

**And lit up the brass number 4 on the Dursley's front door; it crept into the living room, which was almost exactly the same as it had been on the night Mr Dursley had seen the fateful news report about the owls.**

"Does nothing change?" asked Lavender, incredulously.

**Only the photographs on the mantelpiece really showed the passage of time. Ten years ago, there had been a large number of photos of what looked like a large pink beach ball wearing different coloured bonnets, but Dudley Dursley was no longer a baby,**

Almost everyone burst out laughing, a smile crept onto Minerva's face and Dumbledore's eyes twinkled madly, but they didn't laugh.

**And now the photographs showed a large blond boy riding his first bicycle, on a carousel at a fair, playing a computer game with his father, being hugged and kissed by his mother. The room held no sign that another boy lived in this house.**

"Did you leave? Did Remus or Sirius come for you?" asked Regulus, he may not have been on the best of terms with his brother lately, but part of him still cared for him and his friends.  
"I'm still there," Harry replied, ill at ease with everyone hearing about his terrible home life.  
Everyone noticed his expression and frowned.

**Yet Harry Potter was still there, asleep at the moment, but not for long. His aunt Petunia was awake and it was her voice that made the first noise of the day.**

"I feel for you," Severus said, giving Harry a sympathetic look.  
The marauders stared curiously at him, how would he know Lily's sister?

"**Up! Get up! Now"**

**Harry woke with a start. His aunt rapped on the door again.**

"**Up!"**

"Banshee," someone muttered.

**Harry heard her walk into the kitchen and then the sound of the frying pan being put on the stove.**

"Was your room near the kitchen?" Dorea asked, wanting to know more about her grandson.  
"I slept on the ground floor, yes," Harry answered. Dorea and Hermione noticed the evasive answer and looked at him, enquiringly.

**He rolled onto his back, hissing as pain shot through his ribs and back from the beating Dudley's gang gave him when he was caught yesterday.**

"What does it mean 'the beating Dudley's gang gave you'?" asked James quietly, his classmates edged away from him slightly

"Dudley is the leader of a gang of bullies, I was their favourite target," Harry replied, flatly.

No one looked happy at that statement, but Harry didn't say more, so Slughorn continued.

**Staying still for a moment to let the pain recede, he tried to remember the dream he'd been having. It had been a good one, there had been a flying motorcycle in it.**

"Wow, you remembered that?" asked Sirius, "and you were one year old, I wonder if I took you on the bike?"

"I would never let you take my baby on that bike, unless I was confounded," Lily said sharply, Sirius flinching away from her glare.

"Actually, according to Remus, one day when you stepped out, those two charmed a toy broom for me to ride," Harry said, pointing to Sirius and James, who now looked like two deer in the headlights. "The charms worked perfectly for the take-off and flight but they forgot to charm it to land and I nearly crashed it. They managed to get the broom to turn away and land, just before you walked back in. According to Remus, James turned to Sirius as you stared them down and said 'She only saw him _nearly_ crash, right?'" Harry smiled at the two marauders, who were both looked like they wanted nothing more than to disappear from the furious, glaring redhead who was fingering her wand a few feet away, "Last coherent words for three days," Harry finished.

The two marauders gulped as Lily looked like she was about to act on that threat.

**He had a funny feeling had the same dream before. His aunt was back outside the door. "Are you up yet?" she demanded.**

"**Nearly," Harry said.**

"**Well, get a move on, I want you to look after the bacon. And don't you dare let it burn, I want everything perfect on my Duddy's birthday."**

"Duddy?" Lily breathed as nearly all the teens roared in laughter.

"As if I'd let it burn, cooking's the only thing you let me do that I liked," Harry muttered.

Hermione, Remus and Severus caught his statement. "They made you cook?" asked Remus, quite clearly, his question effectively killing the humour. All eyes fell on Harry.

"They had me helping out in the kitchen since I could see over the top of the stove, with the help of a stool of course. Turns out a seven year old can cook better from scratch than Petunia can with a lifetime of experience." Harry said, smiling fondly as he remembered his uncle forbidding Dudley from doing anything to him while he was cooking.

There were a few laughs at his last sentence but most were looking at him darkly.

**Harry groaned.**

"**What did you say?" his aunt snapped through the door.**

"He didn't say anything, Hag!" Tonks snapped angrily, looking up from the notebook she and the twins had been writing in. Harry looked from the three to the notebook apprehensively, the page was titled, Operation: revenge war on Dursley's. 'No quarter to be given' had been added under the title.

"**Nothing, nothing…"**

"Smart move," Fred muttered.

**Dudley's birthday – how could he have forgotten? Harry got slowly out of bed and started looking for some socks. He found a pair under the bed and, after pulling a spider off them, put them on.**

Ron shivered at the mention of spiders, Lavender cuddled up closer to him to comfort him. The twins exchanged a look before shrinking from Harry's frown, 'Fred's prank all those years ago didn't affect him that badly, did it?'

**Harry was used to spiders,**

"How can you be used to spiders?" Ron asked in a small voice, drawing concerned looks from the twins and Lavender.

**Because the cupboard under the stairs was full of them,**

Slughorn stopped reading, his eyes went wide and he looked up at Harry.  
"What does the cupboard have to do…" Lucius began before trailing off, realisation and horror dawning on his face, several others mirrored his expression as the pieces fell into place.

**And that was where he slept.**

Silence; terrible, deafening silence.

"Son of a Bitch!" exclaimed Sirius and Regulus.

"Bastards!" shouted Remus, William, Frank, Charlus and Alastor.

James was hugging Lily, trying to control his own temper and comfort her at the same time.

Marlene, Narcissa, Lucius and Alice were muttering angrily, no-one in the wizarding world treated a child like this.

All the adults were talking to Dumbledore in angrily, demanding an answer as to why he would leave Harry with these people. The man himself seemed furious that he had left a child in such an environment, furiously going over any and all possible justifications for his actions.

The twins and Ron were horrified, "But your rooms on the first floor, we broke you out before second year."

Hermione turned to Harry, tears streaming down her face; "Why? Why didn't you tell us? Tell me?" she asked loudly, drawing nearly everyone's attention.

"Why?" Harry repeated softly, staring directly into Hermione's chocolate brown eyes, tears welling up but not spilling from his own. "Why? Because this is in the past, it isn't relevant any more, they aren't relevant anymore." He said, his voice getting louder, more forceful as he spoke. "When this mattered no-one cared, the Dursleys made sure no-one believed me, whether the neighbours or the school, and they put on a good show when someone did notice. There was no-one that could help." He stopped to take a breath, to calm down before continuing. "By the time there was someone that could help, this had all changed, the Dursleys had changed, they couldn't pretend anymore. They didn't treat me as bad and learned to tolerate my presence. The way they acted was cruel, criminal even, but I can't change what they did or that some people failed to realise that my 'guardians' never treated me as anything else than a slave."  
Harry looked straight at Dumbledore here, who looked very ashamed and angry with himself.  
"If I dwell on what was, I risk being consumed by it, only by accepting what's happened and moving on from that do I become stronger, do I become a better person for it." Harry's eyes slid from her own to land on Severus for a split second, but Hermione noticed and understood. She threw her arms around him and started to cry softly into his neck; Harry slid his arms around her waist and began rubbing her back.

The others were both impressed and slightly mollified by his speech, although several still muttered darkly. Slughorn began to read again.

**When he was dressed he went down the hall to the kitchen. The table was almost hidden beneath Dudley's birthday presents.**

"Small table?" asked Narcissa hopefully.  
"Seats six comfortably"

**It looked like Dudley had got the new computer he wanted; not to mention the second television and the racing bike.**

"Second television?" Lily asked quietly.

"Did that bike hold his weight?" Tonks asked. "Just," Harry replied.

**Exactly why Dudley wanted a racing bike was a mystery to Harry, Dudley was very fat and hated exercise – unless it involved punching someone.**

"That better not mean you," Sirius growled.

**Dudley's favourite punching bag was Harry,  
**There were several growls across the room and Harry had to cast a calming charm on Remus to prevent Moony from making an appearance.

**But he couldn't often catch him, Harry didn't look it but he could run very fast for his age,**

"Thank Merlin," someone said.

**But that just meant Dudley hit him harder when he did catch Harry.**

More growls were heard this time.

**Perhaps it had something to do with living in a dark cupboard, but Harry had always been small and skinny for his age.**

"No, this idiot was a scrawny midget too," Sirius laughed.

"Oi," James cried, indignantly.

"And the men all fall for redheads," Remus teased, making both James and Lily blush.

"Hey we don't all fall for redheads, mums hair is black and Hermione's is brown," James retorted.

"Actually, your mother charmed her hair red when we were courting," Charlus replied smiling

"Go on, mione," Harry said as James stared incredulously at his parents. Hermione nodded shyly as she pulled out her wand and cancelled the transfiguration spell on her hair. The thick mane of bushy brown curls changed into flowing, voluminous deep red waves, slightly darker than Lily's hair and slightly longer, as it fell to just below her shoulder blades.

James stared in disbelief, his mouth opening and closing several times. Lily was also staring, in disbelief as Hermione's hair looked just like hers and but also in envy; she could never get her hair to look that good.

"Hermione's hair was originally as you saw, but those two cocked up a prank in our fourth year and permanently transfigured her hair red." Harry explained, pointing to the twins, as Hermione blushed as red as her hair (she had always been very self-conscious about her hair) and the twins looked very smug.  
"A cock up it may have been, but arguably one of our most successful pranks," they chorused.  
"What?" Harry and Hermione asked.  
The twins exchanged another smug look, "According to our sources," Fred began.

Hermione is now a _'natural'_ redhead" George continued.

Harry, Hermione and Lavender blushed furiously as the room erupted in laughter, before Hermione and Lavender hid behind their hair. Harry jumped up and hexed the twins before they could react. As the laughter died down and Hermione looked out from her hair again, she saw the twins were not only hurting from receiving several unpleasant hexes each but they were hanging from the ceiling by their bare butts, their wands now stuck to the floor.

"You will stay up there until I let you down, consider this your first and only warning," Harry shouted, as the twins begged to be let down.

"And as you will soon see, I feel for Hermione _before_ she was turned into a redhead." Harry finished as he sat down, making Hermione blush again.

Slughorn shook his head, smiling amusedly at the teens antics.

**He looked even smaller and skinnier than he really was because all he had to wear was Dudley's old clothes, and Dudley was a couple of times bigger than him.**

"They wouldn't buy you clothes that fit?" Augusta asked, disgusted.

"Only underwear and socks," Harry replied.

**Harry had a thin face,**

"Jamesie" Sirius, Remus, Marlene and Lily agreed, smiling at James' expression.

**Knobbly knees,**

"Jamesie"

**Wild black hair**

"Ja-"

"I know he looks like me!" James shouted.

**And deep green eyes.**

"Lily-flower!"

Lily sighed, "How many more times are you going to call me that?"

"At least once more, Lily-flower," James said, cheekily.

**He wore round glasses held together by lots of scotch tape because of all the times Dudley and his gang had broken his nose.**

Harry and Hermione were surprised the book hadn't caught fire, with the way everyone was glaring at it.

**The only thing he liked about his appearance was a very thin scar on his forehead that was shaped like a lightning bolt.**

Hermione blinked, "You liked it?"

"Before I knew what it meant and why? Yes, it made me stand out from everyone else; Dudley even asked once if his parents could give him an even cooler scar." Harry replied softly, an odd emotion in his eyes. He missed those simple days when he didn't have to worry about incompetent politicians or insane tyrants.

**He'd had it as long as he could remember, and the first question he could ever remember asking his aunt Petunia was how he had gotten it.**

"**In the car crash that your parents died in," she had said.**

"CAR CRASH?" Lily roared, "Those _'Animals'_ told you we died in a car crash?" jumping out of her seat, bright red sparks flying from her wand's tip.

"Yes," Harry replied, quite calm in the face of both his mother's infamous temper and a glare that would make Riddle himself hide. Something that Lily, the marauders and her classmates noticed for different reasons, the marauders and their classmates, minus Lily, were both terrified for and impressed that Harry could sit completely calm in the face of hurricane Lily".

"How can you be so calm about this?" Lily demanded, both infuriated and, begrudgingly, impressed by her son's calm demeanour.

"This particular transgression has had sentence passed, and if we could continue, you will see how when I read my Hogwarts letter. You will not be disappointed when these _barbarians_ are treated to poetic justice," Harry replied in a calm voice, not dissimilar to the tone Harry remembered Lucius using in the Wizengamot before fifth year.

Horace continued as Lily sat down.

"**And don't ask questions,"**

"But how was he supposed to learn?" Alice asked

"I think that is the point," Severus replied grimly, his fellow Slytherins nodding gravely.

**Don't ask questions – that was the first rule for a quiet life with the Dursleys**

**Uncle Vernon entered the kitchen as Harry was turning over the bacon.**

"**Comb your hair," he barked, by way of a morning greeting.**

"Not going to work," called the marauders, Frank, Charlus, Dorea, Ron, Hermione, Lavender and the twins. Harry looked at Tonks, who smiled evilly.

**About once a week, uncle Vernon looked over the top of his newspaper and said Harry needed a haircut. Harry must have had more haircuts than the rest of the boys in his class put together, but it made no difference, his hair just grew that way – all over the place.**

"The curse of the Potter hair," Sirius shouted looking from Charlus, to James and then to Harry, when his face fell. Harry was sitting there with shiny, perfectly groomed hair as opposed to the coal black mess present only a few seconds ago. "What did you do?"  
"What do you mean?" Harry asked turning to Sirius, his hair changing into an exact copy of Sirius' prized locks.  
"How did you do that?" asked Remus, as Harry turned to him his hair changed again, this time mirroring Remus' brown hair.  
"You're a metamorphagus?" asked Frank, surprised and impressed.  
"Yes, so is Tonksie. She taught me how to use my ability." Harry replied, grinning smugly at the marauders as he changed his hair back to normal, not noticing Charlus and Dorea's knowing smiles.

**Harry was frying eggs by the time Dudley came into the kitchen with his mother. Dudley looked a lot like uncle Vernon. He had a large pink face, not much neck, small watery blue eyes and thick brown hair that lay smoothly on his fat head.**

"Looks like a pig in a wig, then?" said James.

Harry, Hermione, Ginny, Ron and the twins burst out laughing.

"What's so funny?" James asked.

"You'll see,"

**Aunt Petunia often said Dudley looked like a baby angel – Harry said Dudley looked like a pig in a wig.**

"That," Ron answered as the teens burst out laughing.

"Great minds think alike, eh Jamesie?" Sirius teased

"Oh No!" groaned the Slytherins and teachers.

**Harry put the plates of egg and bacon on the table, which was difficult as there wasn't much room. Dudley, meanwhile, was counting his presents. His face fell.**

"**Thirty-six," he said, looking up at his parents. "That's two less than last year."**

"Merlin, even I'm not that spoilt," Lucius, James and Regulus said together.

"Horrible behaviour," said Augusta and Dorea.

"**Darling, you haven't counted aunt Marge's present, see, it's under this big one from mummy and daddy."**

"**All right, thirty-seven then," said Dudley going red in the face. Harry could spot a Dudley Tantrum starting from half a mile, and moved his plate from the table to the counter in case Dudley overturned it.**

"Clever lad," said Alastor.

"Did he really do that?" Hermione asked, incredulously.

"Not that time," Harry said, "he has done it seven times in total though."

**Aunt Petunia obviously scented danger too, because she quickly said "When we're out today, we'll buy you two new presents, alright popkin?"**

**Dudley thought for a moment, it looked like hard work **("I hope it hurt" "I think it did")**. Finally he slowly said, "So I'll have thirty… thirty…"**

"God in Heaven! I forgot how bad he was at math," Harry exclaimed.

"**Thirty-nine, sweetums," said aunt Petunia.**

"**Oh." Dudley sat down heavily and grabbed the nearest parcel. "All right then."**

**Uncle Vernon chuckled, "Little tyke wants his money's worth, just like his father. Atta boy Dudley!" He ruffled his son's hair.**

"He encourages such behaviour!" exclaimed the adults and teachers.

**Vernon watched as Dudley unwrapped the racing bike, a video camera, a remote control aeroplane and a VCR.**

**He had just ripped the wrapping paper off of a silver wrist watch as Harry finished cleaning the dishes. Dudley frowned as he looked over the watch, before tossing it over his shoulder, it flew into the hallway. **

**Harry excused himself from the table and walked back to his cupboard, as he got to the door, he spotted the watch lying against the door. He picked it up as he opened the door, 'Dudley probably didn't want it because it's not gold' he thought before checking to see if his aunt and uncle could see him.**

"Brat," chorused several voices in varying degrees of anger.

**When he saw that they couldn't see him, he slipped into the cupboard and closed the door. He took the watch out and slipped it onto his wrist, as long as he hid it well enough under his baggy shirts his relatives would be none the wiser, besides this way it wouldn't be wasted.**

Harry ran his hand over the watch in question as he remembered Vernon's face two years later when he recognised it.

**As he set it to the correct time, the telephone rang. He hurriedly hid the watch under the long sleeve of his shirt, before leaving his cupboard and returning to the kitchen, to find Dudley starting on a stack of what looked like computer games.**

**Dudley was unwrapping the sixteenth game when Petunia returned from the hall, looking both angry and worried.**

"**Bad news, Vernon," she said. "Mrs Figg's broken her leg, she can't take him."**

"He has a name," Growled James, Lily, Sirius and Hermione. Everyone else looked like they were thinking the same thing.

"I was just glad to not be an 'It'" Harry replied honestly, provoking another wave of glares towards the book.

**She jerked her head in Harry's direction.**

**Dudley's mouth fell open in horror, but Harry's heart leapt. Every year on Dudley's birthday, his parents took him and a friend out for the day, to theme parks, hamburger restaurants or to the movies. And every year they would leave Harry with Mrs Figg, a pensioner with an unusual love of cats, who lived two roads away. Harry didn't really like it there, he wasn't a cat person but it was worth enduring the smell of cabbage in the house and the endless photo albums of all Mrs Figg's cats for the relative freedom she allowed him.**

**Harry felt very sorry for Mrs Figg, for all her eccentricities, she was a very kind woman, but his feelings were slightly marred by relief that he wouldn't endure the photo albums this time.**

"**Now what?" said aunt Petunia, glaring at Harry as though he had planned this.**

"How is it Harry's fault?" snapped Fred, from his position on the ceiling.

"I had been fighting Dudley's gang with a war of pranks for two years, after she found out I was responsible for several 'accidents' she started to blame me for everything that went wrong," Harry explained, causing the twins to flinch and the marauders to carefully examine him, as if considering recruiting him.

"**We could phone Marge," Vernon suggested.**

Harry's friends perked up at the name.

"**Don't be silly, Vernon, she hates the boy," **

"The feeling is mutual," Harry growled, again causing several people to shrink away and wonder what this 'Aunt Marge' did to piss him off.

"Harry, isn't aunt Marge…" Fred began.

"…the one you…" George continued.

They both gestured a balloon inflating.

"Yes," Harry replied

**The Dursley's often spoke like this, as though he wasn't there – or rather, as though he was a **_**'lesser creature'**_** that couldn't understand them, like a dog.**

Several growls were heard again.

"**What about your friend, what's her name? – Yvonne?"**

"She's still friends with her?" Lily and Severus asked.

"She's alright, actually, she's got a cousin that's a wizard and is a lot more understanding than Petunia" Harry replied.

"**On holiday in Majorca," snapped aunt Petunia.**

"**You could just leave me here," Harry put in hopefully (he hoped that by suggesting it they would bring him along, or just in case of the snowball's chance they agreed).**

"Clever Potter, manipulating the enemy so they do what you want," said Moody, approvingly.

"Very Slytherin of you, Potter," Lucius said, also approving.

"A Good prankster can pull off anything, a Master prankster can pull off anything and implicate someone else will doing it," Harry replied smugly.  
The marauders took note of this and the way the twins flinched at his statement.

**Aunt Petunia looked like she had swallowed a lemon.**

"But she always looked like that?" Harry said, confused.

The marauders, Lily and Severus noticed the use of past tense.

"**And come back to find the house in ruins?" she snarled.**

"He won't blow up the house," said James, exasperated.

"No, but I did blow out all the doors and windows once before Dudley learned not to hit me while I'm cooking," Harry admitted sheepishly.

James stared at Harry wide-eyed, while the others considered the implications of that statement.

"**I won't blow up the house," Harry said, but they weren't listening.**

"No-one ever listens" Harry muttered quietly.

Remus and Sirius heard and exchanged a look.

"**I suppose we could take him to the zoo," Petunia started slowly, "and leave him in the car…"**

"That's very dangerous, he could get very ill from that," Lily said, very angry at her sister now.

"**That car's new, the freak's not sitting in it alone…"**

"That utter b…"

SLAP!

"Sirius!" scolded Marlene.

**Dudley began to cry loudly. Actually, he wasn't really crying – it had been years since he had really cried – but he knew that if he screwed up his face and wailed, his mother would give him anything he wanted.**

Dorea and Augusta looked like they were trying very hard not to say what was on their minds.

"**Dinky Duddydums, don't cry, mummy won't let him spoil your special day!" she cried, flinging her arms around him.**

The room burst out laughing, even Minerva and Dumbledore chuckled.

"Wait!" Remus wheezed, as he tried to get his breath back, "Her arms fit around him?"

"Just," Harry said.

"**I… don't… want… him… t-t-to… come!" Dudley yelled, between huge, pretend sobs. "He always sp-spoils everything!" He shot Harry a nasty grin through the gap in his mother's arms**

"Brat!" shouted several people

**Just then, the doorbell rang – "Oh, good lord, they're here!" said aunt Petunia frantically – and a moment later, Piers Polkiss, Dudley's best friend, walked in with his mother.**

**Piers was a scrawny boy with a rat-like face.**

Harry and his friends growled at the reminder of Pettigrew.

**He was usually the one who held people's arms behind their back while Dudley hit them.**

"That's Horrible!" exclaimed Narcissa.

"It was normally me or younger kids too," Harry added.

**Dudley stopped crying at once.**

"Can't cry in front of your _'friend'_" James said sarcastically.

"A true friend won't care," Tonks replied, "They'd just see you as human."

**Half an hour later, Harry, who couldn't believe his luck, was sitting in the back of the Dursley's car with Dudley and piers, on the way to the zoo for the first time.**

"That's not right," Lavender mumbled.

**His aunt and uncle hadn't been able to think of anything else to do with him, but before they'd left, uncle Vernon had taken him aside.**

"**I'm warning you now, boy – any funny business, anything at all – and you'll be in that cupboard from now until Christmas."**

More people growled this time and Harry could have sworn Sirius was cursing in French.

"**I'm not going to do anything," Harry said, "honestly…" But Uncle Vernon didn't believe him. No one ever did.**

Several people shot Harry pitying looks.

**The problem was, strange things often happened around Harry and it was no good telling the Dursleys he didn't make them happen.**

**Once, Aunt Petunia, tired of Harry coming back from barbers looking as though he hadn't been at all, had taken a pair of kitchen scissors and cut his hair so short he was almost bald except for his bangs, which she left "to hide that horrible scar."**

"Not going to work" said James

**Dudley had laughed himself silly at Harry, who had spent a sleepless night imagining school the next day, where he was already laughed at for his baggy clothes and taped glasses. Next morning, however, he had gotten up to find his hair exactly as it had been before aunt Petunia shaved it off.**

"Yes! The Potter hair is unbeatable," shouted James, his parents smiling fondly.

**He had been given a week in his cupboard for this,**

"Petunia!, you know he can't help it!" Lily shouted.

**Even though he tried to explain that he **_**couldn't**_** explain how it had grown back so quickly.**

**Another time, aunt Petunia had been trying to force him into a revolting old jumper of Dudley's (brown with orange puff balls) – **

"Ewww," said the teens, Lavender and Narcissa looked like they were going to be sick, Harry grimaced at the memory.

**The harder she tried to pull it over his head, the smaller it seemed to become, until it might have fitted a hand puppet. Aunt Petunia had decided it must have shrunk in the wash and, to his great relief, Harry wasn't punished.**

**On the other hand, he'd got into terrible trouble for being found on the roof of the school kitchens. Dudley's gang had been chasing him as usual when, as much to Harry's surprise as anyone else's, there he was sitting against the chimney.**

Everyone turned to stare at Harry, astonished he was capable of such powerful magic at his age.

"Did you apparate? Or did you fly?" Lily asked

"Apparate, I remember a brief moment where my body felt under pressure, like I was swimming in deep water, I've been able to repeat it at Hogwarts. What do you mean fly? I didn't think a witch or wizard could do that unaided?" Harry replied, before looking shrewdly at his mother.

Lily opened her mouth to speak but was cut off by Severus, "The day I met Lily, she and Petunia were playing on a set of swings in the park we all lived near. As I saw them, Lily told Petunia to watch her and she jumped of the swing, she then gently glided back to the ground and landed on her feet. I was interested in her immediately as until that day I thought I was the only magical child in the neighbourhood."

Everyone was now staring at Lily, who had blushed as red as her hair.

"Mum that's amazing, I didn't think that was possible," Harry said, smiling broadly at her.

Lily blushed even harder, both from the praise and happy her son had called her mum.

**The Dursleys had received a very angry letter from the headmistress telling them Harry had been climbing school buildings. But all he'd tried to do (as he shouted at uncle Vernon through the locked door of his cupboard later) was jump behind the large rubbish bins outside the kitchens. Harry assumed he'd put his foot in the wrong place and jumped too hard.**

"You really need to learn how to lie, son," James said sadly.

"It's not as bad as my original story, 'the wind must have caught me mid jump'," Harry replied.

James conceded the point as the room erupted in laughter again.

**There was also something else that Harry was in no hurry to tell the Dursleys about.**

Everyone in the room now gave Horace their undivided attention.

**One day, shortly before Dudley's eighth birthday, Harry had been running from Dudley's gang after narrowly escaping an ambush. He had ducked into an alley and hidden behind a set of large wheelie bins. Terror had flooded his mind; he'd scored better on an end of term test than Dudley and his whole gang and they were looking to get him back for it.**

Growls came from around the room again and both Harry and Hermione had to cast calming charms on Remus as his eyes changed to amber.

**As he tried to catch his breath, he heard the gang at the far end of the road behind him; he panicked again, knowing that even if he made it back to number four he wasn't safe until the gang broke up.**

**Ideas and images flashed through his mind, until, he saw himself standing in a woodland clearing, there was a large mass bathed in deep shadows directly ahead, whatever it was, it was the size of a horse and had amber eyes.**

Everyone was now staring incredulously, looking between Harry and the book.

**Harry started to back away from the large creature, but stopped and spun around when he felt something behind him. He looked down and saw a small rough collie padding around him, looking him up and down.**

**The collie stopped and sat directly in front of him; it had long white fur on its legs, belly, tail and chest, mahogany fur on its upper body and a patch of black fur on its forehead. It stared at him with big green eyes; he reached out his arm and stroked its fur.**

**As Harry did, feelings, emotions and instincts not his own assaulted him, it took several moments but he was able to clear his mind, the new feelings and instincts didn't disappear but were not as prominent or controlling, they were only a part of him.**

**He opened his eyes to see the collie crouching in front of him, just before it jumped at him.**

**Suddenly, his vision went black, he could feel his body twisting, changing. When he opened his eyes, he was a lot shorter than before, his face felt stretched and he was covered in a lot of long, fine hair. There was also the paws and tail.**

**Harry realised that he was now a dog, but didn't have time to dwell on it as Dudley's gang was approaching the alley. Harry scooted, as best he could, under one of the bins, and was fully under as the gang jogged into the alley and past the bins.**

**Harry crawled out once he couldn't hear them anymore, he knew he couldn't go back as a dog and focused very hard on his previous, human body and after a few minutes of trying to find the right – feeling – to focus on, he started to turn back. After another minute of unpleasant transformation he was his normal self again.**

**He hurried home, managing to overtake Dudley by using a shortcut, and was safely back before Dudley arrived.**

**Harry had returned to that alley to practise transforming and how to walk and run in his new form several times, he could now transform at will and run and walk without tripping himself up.**

Everyone stared at Harry incredulously, even his friends ( they'd known he was an Animagus since third year, first for Hermione, but they didn't know how long he'd been able to do it). The marauders in particular looked like they didn't truly believe what they'd heard.

"You've been an animagus since you were seven?" professor McGonagall asked, faintly.

Harry nodded, "It's my second form, I've been able to turn into my first form since third year too" he said and then gestured for Horace to continue.

**But today, nothing was going to go wrong. It was even worth being with Piers and Dudley to be spending the day somewhere that wasn't school, her cupboard or Mrs Figg's living room.**

**While he drove, uncle Vernon complained to aunt Petunia. He liked to complain about things: people at work, Harry, the council, Harry, the bank and Harry were just a few of his favourite subjects. This morning, it was motorcycles."…roaring along like maniacs, the young hoodlums," he said, as a motorcycle overtook them.**

"That's it, I'm getting my bike and I'm riding it past his house," Sirius declared, his patience finally at an end.

"We'll ride it all night," added James.

"On a full moon," Remus added quietly, but not quietly enough as nearly everyone stared at him while the other marauders nodded.

"I brought my Enfield Conny, in case you're interested," Harry said, pulling what looked like a toy motorcycle out of his pocket and resizing it behind the couches.

The marauders nodded enthusiastically, taking in every detail of the well cared for Royal Enfield Constellation, as the rest of the room groaned.

"**I had a dream about a motorcycle," said Harry, remembering suddenly. "It was flying."**

"Bad move," George said, wincing.

"I was ten, innocent and very naïve," Harry said.

That sentence hit Lily and James like a brick, Harry had been young, innocent and naïve. Why did he now have that thousand yard stare? What had happened?

**Uncle Vernon nearly crashed into the car in front. He turned round in his seat and yelled at Harry, his face like a gigantic beet with a moustache: "MOTORCYCLES DON'T FLY!"**

**Dudley and piers sniggered.**

"**I know they don't," said Harry. "It was only a dream."**

**But he wished he hadn't said anything. If there was one thing his relatives hated even more than his asking questions, it was him talking about anything acting in way it wasn't supposed to, no matter if it was in a dream or even a cartoon – they seemed to think he might get dangerous ideas.**

"I'll let you watch some later," Harry said to the twins, who had opened their mouths to ask him what cartoons were.

**It was a very sunny Saturday and the zoo was crowded with families. The Dursleys had bought Dudley and Piers large chocolate ice creams at the entrance and then, because the smiling young lady in the van had asked him what he wanted before they could hurry him away, they bought him a cheap lemon ice pop. It wasn't bad, either, Harry thought, licking it as they watched a gorilla scratching his head who looked remarkably like Dudley.**

Nearly everyone burst out laughing, except Harry who was shaking his head and Hermione, who looked very cross.

"Harry, that was uncalled for. You shouldn't insult innocent gorillas like that," she said, crossly.

Harry blushed as the room echoed with laughter again.

**Harry had the best morning he could remember. He was careful to walk a little apart from the Dursleys so that Dudley and Piers, who had started to become bored with the animals by lunchtime, wouldn't fall back on their favourite hobby of hitting him.**

There were fewer growls as most people were becoming hoarse.

**They ate in the zoo restaurant, and when Dudley threw a tantrum because his Knickerbocker glory didn't have enough ice cream on top, uncle Vernon bought him another one and let Harry finish the first.**

**Afterward, Harry felt he should have known it was all too good to last.**

Several people groaned. "Does anything ever go right for you?" Lily asked.

"My luck has a nasty habit of backfiring at the worst possible time," Harry replied, "Sod's law has an unhealthy affect on my life."

**After lunch they went to the reptile house. It was cool and dark inside, with lit windows along the walls. Behind the glass, all sorts of lizards and snakes were crawling and slithering over bits of wood and stone. Dudley and Piers wanted to see huge, poisonous cobras and thick man-crushing pythons. Dudley quickly found the largest snake in the building. It could have wrapped its body twice around Uncle Vernon**

"Whoa!" Sirius exclaimed "that's huge!"

'**s car and crushed it into a dustbin.**

"Ok, not so huge"

"It can crush something that can hold the walrus, the horse and the whale into a block the size of a dustbin, if anything, it's even bigger."

**But, at the moment, it didn't look in the mood, in fact, it was asleep.**

**Dudley stood with his nose pressed against the glass, staring at the glistening brown coils.**

"**Make it move," he whined at his father. Uncle Vernon tapped on the glass, but the snake didn't move,**

"**Do it again," Dudley ordered. Uncle Vernon rapped the glass smartly with his knuckles, but the snake just snoozed on.**

"**This is boring," Dudley moaned as he shuffled away.**

**Harry moved in front of the tank and looked intently at the snake. He wouldn't have been surprised if it had died of boredom – no company except stupid people drumming their fingers on the glass trying to disturb it all day long. It was worse than having a cupboard for a bedroom, where the only visitor was aunt Petunia hammering on the door to wake you up; at least he got to visit the rest of the house.**

**The snake suddenly opened its beady eyes. Slowly, very slowly, it raised its head until its eyes were on a level with Harry's.**

**It winked.**

"Huh?"

**Harry stared. Then he looked quickly around to see if anyone was watching. They weren't. He looked back at the snake and winked, too. The snake jerked its head at uncle Vernon and Dudley, then raised its eyes to the ceiling. It gave Harry a look that said quite plainly:**

"**I get that all the time."**

"**I know," Harry murmured through the glass, though he wasn't sure the snake could hear him. "It must be really annoying."**

"You can talk to snakes?" Sirius said surprised.

"I'm friends with several Slytherins, yes," Harry replied

"Not what I meant," Sirius said, annoyed as several people laughed lightly.

"I'm a Parselmouth," Harry said, straightening up and staring directly into Sirius' eyes. "What of it?"

"Nothing, Harry," Remus said, trying to defuse the situation.

"We're just surprised, that's all," Lily added.

"It doesn't change who you are or what we think of you," James finished, making Harry smile.

**The snake nodded vigorously.**

"**Where do you come from, anyway?" Harry asked.**

**The snake jabbed its tail at a small sign next to the glass. Harry peered at it.**

**Boa Constrictor, Brazil.**

"**Was it nice there?"**

**The Boa Constrictor jabbed its tail at the sign again and Harry read on: This specimen was bred In the zoo. "Oh, I see – so you've never been to Brazil?"**

**As the snake shook its head, a deafening shout behind Harry made them both jump. "DUDLEY! MR DURSLEY! COME AND LOOK AT THIS SNAKE! YOU WON'T BELIEVE WHAT ITS DOING!"**

**Dudley came waddling towards them as fast as he could.**

Harry threw his head into his hands, groaning, as the room laughed again.

"I insulted penguins in a big way that day," He muttered.

Those who heard him laughed even harder.

"**Out of the way, you," he said, punching Harry hard in is still tender ribs. Caught by surprise, Harry fell hard onto the concrete floor, sending another wave of pain through his ribs and back**

**What came next happened so fast no one saw how it happened – one second, Piers and Dudley were leaning right up close to the glass, the next, they had leapt back with howls of Horror.**

"What did you do?"

**Harry sat up and gasped; the glass in front of the Boa Constrictor's tank had vanished.**

Everyone turned to Harry.

"That's fourth year magic," Regulus said faintly, no one he knew had done accidental magic that powerful.

Harry shrugged and asked Horace to continue.

**The great snake was uncoiling itself rapidly, slithering out onto the floor. People throughout the reptile house screamed and ran for the exits,**

**As the snake slid past, Harry could have sworn a low, hissing voice said, "Brazil, here I come… thanksss, amigo."**

**The keeper of the reptile house was in shock. "But the glass," he kept saying, "where did the glass go?"**

"Into the non-being," Harry said, cutting Minerva off. "That is to say everything."

The teachers seemed impressed, as Harry again asked Horace to continue.

**The zoo director himself made aunt Petunia a cup of strong, sweet tea while he apologised over and over again. Piers and Dudley could only gibber. As far as Harry had seen, the snake hadn't done anything except snap playfully at their heels as it passed, but by the time that they were all back in uncle Vernon's car, Dudley was telling how it had nearly bitten off is leg, while Piers was swearing it had tried to squeeze him to death. But worst of all, for Harry at least, was Piers calming down enough to say, "Harry was talking to it, Weren't you Harry?"**

"Brat," was heard from several people.

**Uncle Vernon waited until Piers was safely out of the house before starting on Harry. He was so angry he could barely speak. He managed to say, "Go – cupboard – stay – no meals," before he collapsed into a chair and aunt Petunia had to run and get him a large Brandy.**

**Harry lay in his dark cupboard, trying desperately to ignore the agony shooting across his back and the blood soaking his worn mattress. Uncle Vernon had come to his cupboard, a strong smell of coffee on his breath (Harry assumed he had needed the brandy to steady his nerves but wanted to be clear minded when he punished Harry), belt in hand and had dragged Harry to Dudley's second bedroom. He tore Harry's shirt off before throwing him face down on the bed. Harry had stopped counting after thirty lashes and uncle Vernon had stopped after another few minutes.**

**Uncle Vernon had never flogged him before, but he was convinced Harry had set the snake loose. He was very angry Harry had put so many people in danger with his **_**'freakishness'**_** and had made his feelings very clear. Harry knew he had stopped because he had started to cut too deep, he wanted Harry to fear reprisal but also learn not to endanger the people around him, the scars would serve as a permanent reminder.**

The room erupted in furious shouting at the Dursleys and Dumbledore. Harry, Hermione, Ron and Lavender had to all cast calming charms on Remus while Neville and Ginny were conjuring target dummies for the furious teens to destroy.

Twenty minutes later everyone was calm enough to read again.

**He'd lived with the Dursleys almost ten years, ten miserable years, as long as he could remember, ever since he'd been a baby and his parents died. Sometimes when he strained his memory during the long hours in his cupboard, he came up with a strange vision: a blinding flash of green light and a burning pain on his forehead.**

"You survived the Avada Kadavera?" Charlus asked faintly, staring at Harry in disbelief.

"Yes, and if it isn't explained at the end of this book I'll tell you." Harry said.

**This, he supposed, was the crash, though he couldn't imagine where the green light came from. He couldn't remember his parents at all. His aunt and uncle never spoke about them, and of course he was forbidden to ask questions. There were no photographs of them in the house.**

"You didn't even know what we looked like?" James asked quietly, as he rubbed Lily's back, who had started crying quietly at the cruelty her sister's actions.

"No, but I found out at Christmas and Hagrid made an album for me," Harry replied.

**When he had been younger, Harry had dreamed of some unknown relation coming to take him away, but it had never happened.**

"Damn it! Where are we Remus?" Sirius said, angrily.

"I don't know about you, Sirius, but I don't think the Ministry would let me take care of Harry," Remus replied, sadly.

**The Dursleys were his only family. Yet sometimes he thought (or maybe hoped) that strangers in the street seemed to know him. Very strange strangers they were, too.**

**A tiny man in a violet top hat had bowed to him once wile out sopping with aunt Petunia and Dudley. After asking Harry furiously if he knew the man, aunt Petunia had rushed them out of the shop without buying anything. A wild-looking old woman dressed in green had waved at him once on a bus. A bald man in a purple coat had actually shaken his hand in the street the other day and then walked away without a word.**

"I wonder if that was Kingsley?" Harry muttered to Hermione, who looked thoughtful.

**The weirdest thing about all these people, was the way they seemed to disappear when Harry tried to get a closer look.**

"Apparition," said Sirius.

"I know that now," Harry said.

**At school Harry had no one. Everyone knew Dudley's gang didn't like that odd Harry Potter with his baggy old clothes and his taped up glasses, and no one liked to disagree with Dudley's gang.**

Everyone looked depressed at that last sentence.

"Who would like to read next?" Slughorn asked.  
"I will," said Sirius, taking the book from his professor.  
"Chapter 3 – **The Letters From No One,**" He began.


	4. Chapter 4-The Letters From No One

The Letters From No One

"Can you let us down please Harry?" begged Fred from the ceiling, "I can't feel my legs."  
"I can't feel my butt," George added.

Harry took pity on them and removed the spell keeping them stuck to the ceiling, the pair landed in an undignified heap, bare butts facing the ceiling.

"Sunny side up," Ron shouted, provoking a roar of laughter from the teens and furious blushes from the twins as they stood up and made themselves decent, before returning to their seats.

"**Letters from No One** Sirius started.

"Sirius Black, reading a book?" Harry and the twins said faintly, clutching their hearts before sliding to the floor, pretending to faint.

Tonks slapped both twins hard while Hermione whispered something in Harry's ear that made him jump up like he'd been shocked.

Sirius opened his mouth to say something as everyone laughed, when there was another flash of light. This time the travellers stayed on their feet.  
The light faded to reveal the elder Weasleys, minus Percy, and Professors Snape and McGonagall.

"Hey guys," Charlie said, waving to his siblings, Tonks and their friends.

"Charlie? Bill? Mum? Dad? What's going on?" asked Ron, he wasn't told the rest of his family was coming.

"The old man told us what was happening and we wanted to join, by the way, I need to talk to Harry," Bill said, gesturing to the corner behind the long table.

The Weasleys sat down as Harry followed Bill; Molly and Arthur sat on a couch to Lavender's right while Snape and Minerva (I'll call younger Snape, Severus and younger Minerva, McGonagall) joined the teachers.

Harry returned with a rather dazed look on his face, sitting back down with Hermione and said, "Later" to his friends questioning looks as Bill joined Charlie next to Tonks and the twins. As he sat down, Bill noticed something; "Why does Hermione have red hair?"

The other new arrivals stared at her, now noticing the difference as Hermione hid behind her hair.

Harry turned to Tonks, "You explain," and turned to Sirius and asked him to start reading as Tonks talked to Bill and Charlie.

**The escape of the boa constrictor earned Harry his longest-ever punishment. It had also earned him a harsh flogging which left him unable to move for six days.**

There were gasps from the newcomers as Hermione hugged Harry tighter to her, burying her face in his neck.

Snape and Minerva both went as pale as the Bloody Baron, both silently repeating the word, 'Flogging'.

"Flogging?" Bill asked harshly, "They Flogged you so hard you couldn't move for a week?" his voice rising as anger crept in. Charlie looked murderous. Mr Weasley was shaking with anger as he tried to comfort his crying wife.

"That wasn't the first time I was beaten or the last, but it was definitely the worst," Harry admitted darkly as he rubbed Hermione's back as she cried softly into his neck, she seen the scars, felt them, hearing how those wounds were inflicted was breaking her heart.

Both Bill and Charlie were now shaking with anger and Mr Weasley was shaking worse as his wife sobbed harder and Snape and Minerva somehow paled even more, Minerva breaking into tears at the thought of what she'd condemned Harry to.  
Harry cast calming charms over them all before suggesting the read the first chapters themselves to catch up. Snape copied the book with a charm and gave one to each of them, Ginny telling them which chapters they'd covered.

As each of them finished, except Mrs Weasley, they all got up and went to a newly appeared room to vent their anger, Ron taking over comforting his mother.

They all returned after ten minutes and two dozen large explosions to continue reading.

**By the time he was let out of his cupboard, the summer holidays had started.**

"When is the brat's birthday?" Regulus asked.

"June 23rd," Harry replied, preparing himself for the inevitable outburst.

"A MONTH!" several people cried. "You were locked in a cupboard for a month?" Mrs Weasley shrieked.

Harry grimaced and nodded, covering his sensitive ears.

**And Dudley had already broken his new video camera, crashed his remote control aeroplane and, first time on his racing bike, knocked down Mrs Figg as she crossed Privet Drive on her crutches.**

"Bastard!" Harry muttered, shocking Mr and Mrs Weasley.

"Harry," Mrs Weasley scolded, "Mind your language."

"Mrs Figg, for all her eccentricities, is a very kind woman who is already injured and that git hurts her again, I will not stay silent anymore." Harry said firmly.

**Harry was glad school was over, no more having to dumb down his marks so Dudley could do better than him in class.**

"Is this why your written work was average compared to your practical work for most of first year?" Minerva asked, Snape looked like he wanted an answer to that too. Nearly everyone else gasped in surprise and horror.

"It was an ingrained habit that took time to break," Harry replied, making nearly everyone scowl and Bill and Charlie join the twins and Tonks around their notebook.

**But there was little chance to escape Dudley's gang, who visited the house every day, which gave Harry plenty of experience in planning and utilising escape routes and how to fight a larger, stronger opponent using quick reflexes to avoid injury. **

Snape frowned as he remembered the number of times he'd been told of Crabbe and Goyle being sent to the hospital wing for attacking Harry, and at how few times he'd caught him out after curfew.

**Piers, Gordon, Malcolm and Dennis were all big and stupid, but as Dudley was the biggest and stupidest of them all, he was the leader.**

"That sounds familiar," Ron said, smirking as both Snape's opened their mouths to make a comment on the marauders.  
"Who do we know that possesses similar skills," Harry began.  
"Levels of intelligence," Hermione added, her eyes still red from her tears.  
"Don't believe the normal rules apply to them," Neville continued.  
"And enjoy hurting their peers with their senseless actions," Ginny finished, as they all stared at the marauders, who looked very ashamed at the alarming parallels, and drawing appreciative smiles from both Snapes and Lily.

**The rest of them were all quite happy to join in Dudley's favourite game: Harry hunting.**

"Don't touch him," Hermione growled, hugging Harry tight again, making Mrs Weasley frown as she did.

**This was why Harry spent as much time out of the house, wandering around and thinking about the end of the holidays, where he could see a tiny ray of hope. When September came he would be going to secondary school and, for the first time in his life, he wouldn't be with Dudley.**

"Thank Merlin Hogwarts doesn't accept muggles," someone muttered, Harry suspected it was Lucius.

**Dudley would be going to Vernon's old private school, Smelting's.**

"What kind of a name is that? It sounds like a foundry" Tonks said.

"Our schools named for a pig with a skin problem," Harry replied, shrugging.

"What?" asked Tonks and the twins.

"It's in Hogwarts: A History," Harry said.

"No!" the twins and marauders shouted.

"My favourite bookworm can't threaten me with it now I've read it." Harry said, smiling at said bookworm who was now snuggling into his side, who smiled back.  
The twins and marauders seemed to be thinking his words over.

**Piers Polkiss was also going there. Harry, on the other hand, was going to Stonewall High, the local public school.**

"Not bloody likely." "CHARLES!"

**Dudley thought this was very funny. "They stuff people's heads down the toilet the first day at Stonewall," he told Harry. "Want to go upstairs and practice?"**

"You dare…" the twins left the threat hanging.

"**No, thanks," said Harry. "The poor toilets never had anything as disgusting as your head down it – it might be sick." Then he ran before Dudley could work out what he said.**

Everyone roared with laughter; even Moody, Dumbledore and both McGonagalls were chuckling.

"So he's got James' insults and Lily's cheek, I feel so sorry for you two," Bill said, between bouts of laughter to Professors McGonagall and Snape.

**One day in July, aunt Petunia took Dudley to London to get his Smelting's uniform, leaving Harry at Mrs Figgs wasn't as bad as usual. It turned out she'd broken her leg tripping over one of her cats and wasn't as keen on them as before.**

"I told you cats were evil, except Minnie of course," Sirius said, amending his statement at the glares both McGonagalls gave him.

**She let Harry watch television and gave him a piece of chocolate cake that tasted as though she had had it for several years.**

"Sacrilege!" Remus cried, his friends rolled their eyes.

Ok, Remmy, we know you have an addiction to chocolate," teased James.

"No I don't," Remus huffed, not looking at his friends.

Harry exchanged a mischievous smirk with Ron, who passed him a chocolate frog.

Harry stood up, "Remus" he cried, gaining the chocolate obsessed marauders undivided attention, by waving the chocolate frog, "think fast" he said as he pitched the frog over Remus' head.

Remus jumped up and backwards, catching the frog before tumbling backwards over his chair. He cracked open the packaging and devoured the frog instinctively before his brain caught up with him.

He got up and righted his chair, scarlet faced, as everyone howled with laughter, James, Sirius, Harry, Lily and a few others had fallen out of their seats. He scowled as everyone laughed, looking at the card in annoyance, his expression changing as he saw the card. "I got Harry's chocolate frog card!"

The laughter died instantly as Harry paled. Harry dived at Remus for the card, but Remus tossed it to James before they collided.

James jumped back away from Harry and looked at the card, his face becoming unreadable. "Hey, Lils, come and see this," he said to Lily as he stared at the picture. Lily came over to him, gasped, her hands going to her mouth. James put an arm around her and pulled her close, she didn't push him away, in fact she put her left arm round him as she stared at the photo. "Our son, Lily. That's our son," James said to her softly.

Harry sat down, not willingly to ruin the moment for them, blushing furiously as Hermione cuddled up to him again, smiling at his embarrassment.

James passed on the card after a minute, sitting back down with Lily now sitting against him, as Sirius continued.

**That evening, Dudley paraded around the living room for the family in his brand new uniform.  
Smeltings' boys wore maroon tailcoats,**

Narcissa, Lavender and even Tonks looked ill at that.

**Orange knickerbockers,**

The three were now an unhealthy shade of green.

**And flat straw hats called boaters.**

Narcissa fainted, Tonks fell out of her chair clutching her stomach and Lavender ran for the toilet, Ron chased after her. After the door shut, they could all hear Lavender retching, Dumbledore put up a silencing ward around the door to the gratitude of everyone else.

**They also carried knobbly sticks, used for hitting each other when the teachers weren't looking. This was supposed to be good training for later life.**

"How's that work?" asked Sirius.

"It doesn't, just like how we aren't supposed to hex each other in the corridors," Harry replied.

**As he looked at Dudley in his new knickerbockers, uncle Vernon said gruffly that it was the proudest moment of his life. Aunt Petunia burst into tears and said she couldn't believe it was her 'ickle dudleykins',**

The twins looked green, "We're never calling you 'ickle ronniekins' again," Fred said, horrified that they could think similarly to this woman, as Ron and Lavender returned. Ron high fived Harry before he sat down.

**He looked so handsome and grown up.**

"She needs her eyes tested."

**Harry didn't trust himself to speak, he thought two of his ribs may have already cracked from trying not to laugh.**

Harry ad no such restraint now, and spent the next five minutes laughing like everyone else.

**There was a horrid smell coming from the kitchen the next morning when Harry went in for breakfast.**

"I take it Petunia's cooking is as bad as ever?" Snape asked Harry, who nodded seriously in reply.

**It seemed to be coming from a large iron tub in the sink. He went to have a look. The tub was full of what looked like dirty rages in grey water.**

"**What's this?" he asked aunt Petunia. Her lips tightened as they always did when he dared to ask a question.**

"Harry," George began.

"How dare you ask a question," Fred finished

"**Your new school uniform," she said. **

"They can't be bothered to buy you a uniform?" Charlus fumed.

**Harry looked into the bowl again. "Oh," he said "I didn't realise it had to be so wet."**

"Sarcasm doesn't work on her," both Snapes said in unison, Lily nodded in agreement.

"**Don't be stupid," she snapped. "I'm dyeing some of Dudley's old clothes. It'll look just like everyone else's when I'm done."**

"I doubt that" James said seriously.

**Harry seriously doubted this but thought it best not to argue.**

James blinked.

**He sat down at the table and tried not to think about how he was going to look on his first day – like he was wearing bits of elephant skin probably.**

"I am so glad we wear these old things," Severus said, most students nodded in agreement.

**Dudley and uncle Vernon came in, both with wrinkled noses because of the smell from Harry's school uniform, Uncle Vernon opened his newspaper as usual and Dudley banged his Smelting stick, which he carried everywhere, on the table.**

"EWW!" Ginny cried.

"What?" asked Ron.

"He takes it with him _everywhere_"

"And?"

"Everywhere includes the toilet,"

"Huh, OH GROSS!"

**They heard the soft click of the letterbox and the flop of letters on the doormat.**

"**Get the post, Dudley" said uncle Vernon from behind his paper.**

"He made the whale do something?" William asked incredulously.

"Wait for it," Harry said.

"**Make Harry get it,"**

"Git"

"William!"

"**Get the post, Harry,"**

"The world is right again," Harry sighed, making Hermione chuckle.

"**Make Dudley get it,"**

"**Poke him with your smelting stick, Dudley."**

"Hey!" chorused several voices

**Harry dodged the smelting stick and went to get the post. Three things lay on the doormat: a postcard from Vernon's sister Marge, a brown envelope that looked like a bill and – a letter for Harry.**

**Harry picked it up and stared at it, an odd feeling in his chest. No one, ever, in his whole life, had written to him. Who would?**

"Ginny," Charlie said, grinning as his sister blushed furiously. "And I know Tonksie wrote at least two while we were at Hogwarts."

Tonks went scarlet (an achievement for a metamorphagus) and sent a hex at Charlie.

Ron, the twins and Lavender also blushed as they remembered the letters they wrote before meeting Harry.

**He had no friends, no family besides the Dursley's – he didn't even belong to the library so he didn't get rude notes asking for books back.**

**Yet here it was, a letter, addressed so plainly there could be no mistake:**

_**Mr H Potter**_

_**The cupboard under the stairs**_

_**4 Privet Drive**_

_**Little Whinging, Surrey**_

"How is it so accurate?" Neville asked, quite surprised. "And how did you miss that?"

"We use a self-addressing quill, which really needs to be monitored," Minerva answered, frowning.

**The envelope was thick and heavy, made of yellowish parchment, and the address was written in emerald green ink. There was no stamp.**

"Stamp?" Dorea asked.

"It's a small square of paper used to pay for postage," Sirius answered, making everyone stare again. "I told you, I took Muggle Studies."

"And actually paid attention?" Hermione asked in disbelief, Sirius threw a cushion at her.

**Turning the letter over, his hand trembling, Harry saw a purple wax seal bearing a coat of arms:**

**a lion, **

The gryffindors cheered.

**an eagle, **

William and Augusta cheered.

**a badger **

Tonks cheered.

**and a snake **

The slytherins applauded in a dignified manner.

Someone muttered, "Stuck up ponces," Harry suspected it was Sirius or James.

**surrounding a large letter H.**

Everyone cheered or clapped.

"**Hurry up, boy!" shouted uncle Vernon from the kitchen. "What are you doing, checking for letter bombs?" he chuckled at his own joke.**

"That was a joke?" Fred asked, looking quite ill.

"No, he thinks it's a joke," Harry corrected.

**Harry went back to the kitchen, still staring at his letter. He handed uncle Vernon the bill and the postcard, sat down, and slowly began to open the yellow envelope.**

"No!" Remus groaned. "Read it the hall or stuff it in your room."

"I was in shock," Harry said, shrugging.

**Uncle Vernon ripped open the bill, snorted in disgust, and flipped over the postcard. "Marge's ill," he informed aunt Petunia. "Ate a funny whelk -,"**

"Good," Ron muttered, but not quietly enough.

"Ronald" Mrs Weasley scolded.

"**Dad!" said Dudley, suddenly. "Harry's got something."**

"Shut up brat" James snapped.

**Harry was on the point of unfolding his letter, which was written on the same heavy parchment as the envelope, when it was jerked sharply out of his hand by uncle Vernon.**

"Paws off walrus, it's his," George said.

"**That's mine!" Harry said, trying to snatch it back.**

George blinked and laughed.

"**Who'd be writing to you?" he sneered,**

"Ginny, Tonks, Ron…" Charlie began, but was quickly silenced.

**Shaking the letter open with one hand and glancing at it. His face went from red to green faster than a set of traffic lights. And it didn't stop there, within seconds he had turned the grayish white of old porridge.**

"I would ask Tonksie to do that, but I'm not sure I want to know," Charlie said, his face had a green tinge.

"Never eating Porridge again," Ron swore, his brothers and friends nodding fervently.

**P-P-Petunia!" he gasped.**

"Drama king," Severus sneered.

**Dudley tried to grab the letter to read it, but uncle Vernon held it high out of his reach. Aunt Petunia took it curiously and read the first line. For a moment it looked like she might faint. She clutched her throat and made a choking noise.**

"**Vernon! oh my goodness – Vernon!"**

Sirius, James and the twins were about to say something when they noticed Harry looked very sick. Harry got up and ran to the toilet, as soon as the door shut they heard him vomit before Dumbledore put the silencing wards up again.  
They wondered why he'd react like that until they thought over the sentence again, they all went very green from the mental image and realised Harry's cupboard can't have been soundproofed.

They all mumbled apologies to Harry when he returned, he told them it was ok as he sat down and asked Sirius to continue.

**They stared at each other, seeming to have forgotten Harry and Dudley were in the room. Dudley wasn't used to being ignored. He gave his father a sharp rap on the head with his smelting stick.**

The younger Weasleys shifted in their seats as they imagined what would happen if they had done that.

"**I want to read that letter," he said loudly.**

"**I want to read it, said Harry, furiously, "As Its mine."**

"**Get out, both of you," croaked uncle Vernon.**

**Harry didn't move.**

"Uh oh," Ron said.

"Hit the deck!" Neville shouted, diving out of his seat with the twins, Ron and Tonks as Harry blushed and tried to glare at them.

"**I WANT MY LETTER!" he shouted.**

"There it is, Harry's temper," Neville chuckled, as Harry muttered angrily.

"Whose temper does he have?" Remus asked.

"Well, he can ignore a load of small stuff, but you don't want to be within a mile of him when he does lose it," Ron answered, successfully ignoring Harry's glare.

"He's got Lily's temper then," Remus said, flinching as Lily, who was blushing furiously, glared at him.

"**Let me see it!" demanded Dudley**

"**OUT!" roared uncle Vernon, and he took both Harry and Dudley by the scruffs of their necks and threw them into the hall, slamming the kitchen door behind them.**

"Where you ok?" Hermione asked, worried.

"That time I was," Harry answered, not noticing Hermione's worried glance, and everyone else's.

**Harry and Dudley promptly had a furious but silent fight over who would listen at the keyhole;**

"Harry, Harry, Harry…" the twins chanted.

**Dudley won,**

"AWW!"

**So Harry, glasses dangling from one ear, lay flat on his stomach to listen at the crack between door and floor.**

"Better spot any way," Harry said, the marauders and twins nodded in agreement and Moody nodded in approval.

"**Vernon," aunt Petunia was saying in a quivering voice, "look at the address – how could they possibly know where he sleeps? You don't think they're watching the house?"**

"**Watching – spying – might be following us," muttered uncle Vernon wildly.**

"Like we'd waste our time watching you," Charlie sneered.

"Dumbledore probably has someone watching me, but why nothing was done about the bullying and slave labour I'll never know," Harry said thoughtfully, he missed the dark looks shared by Snape and Minerva.

"**But what should we do, Vernon? Should we write back? Tell them we don't want-…" Harry could see uncle Vernon's shiny black shoes pacing up and down the kitchen. "No," he said finally. "No, we'll ignore it. If they don't get an answer… yes, that's best… we won't do anything"  
"But –"**

"Won't work," someone muttered.

"**I'm not having one in the house, Petunia! Didn't we swear when we took him in to stamp out this dangerous nonsense?"**

The room suddenly turned cold. "Harry, did they…?" Minerva began, fear etched into her face.

"Never specifically, only as a punishment when I badly messed up my chores or like the glass on the constrictor's tank, barring the beatings from Dudley's gang," Harry replied, his voice steady hoping to calm everyone down. I didn't work, while it alleviated some of their concerns it gave them others to worry about.

**That evening when he got back from work, uncle Vernon did something he'd never done before, he visited Harry in his cupboard.**

"He Fit!" Ron exclaimed.

"Just his head" Harry replied.

**Where's my letter?" said Harry, the moment uncle Vernon had squeezed through the door.**

"**Who's writing to me?"**

"Ginn…" Charlie started, but was quickly hit but Ginny's bat bogie hex

"**No one. It was addressed to mistake," said uncle Vernon shortly. "I have burned it."**

"Isn't that a criminal offence?" Harry asked frowning, Lily and Hermione nodded both looking very angry.

"**It was not a mistake," said Harry angrily. "It had my cupboard on it."**

"**SILENCE!" yelled uncle Vernon, making a couple of spiders fall from the ceiling.**

Ron shuddered again at the mention of spiders, Lavender cuddled up to him to calm him, glaring at the twins who both looked very uncomfortable.

**He took a few deep breaths and then forced his face into a smile. **

"I hope it hurt," muttered Charlie, his mother glared but didn't say anything as she happened to agree.

"**Er – yes, Harry – about this cupboard. Your aunt and I have been thinking… you're really getting a bit big for it… we think it might be nice if you moved into Dudley's second bedroom."**

"SECOND BEDROOM?" Lily screamed, making everyone wince then scowl.

"**Why?" said Harry, not trusting his uncle.**

"Good instincts," Moody said approvingly.

"Why did you question it?" Mrs Weasley asked.

"He'd never been nice to me before, indifferent was the best I could expect, so I was suspicious of his motives," Harry explained, making several people scowl but Tonks and Moody nod in approval.

"**Don't ask questions" snapped his uncle, "Take this stuff upstairs, now."**

**The Dursley's house had four bedrooms:**

Lily got up and walked to the room where the elder Weasleys had gone earlier; there was a loud explosion as soon as she shut the door. Nearly everyone else was too angry to speak.

**One for aunt Petunia and uncle Vernon, one for visitors (usually uncle Vernon's sister, Marge), one where Dudley slept, and one where Dudley kept all the toys and things that wouldn't fit in his first bedroom.**

**It took Harry only one trip to move everything he owned from the cupboard to this room. He sat down on the bed and stared around him. Nearly everything in here was broken.**

"He has two rooms for all the junk they buy him and you have only an armful of possessions?" James shouted before jumping up and running after Lily. Remus was growling, it looked like he was trying to keep the wolf down. Sirius was swearing loudly in French. Everyone else was also cursing under their breath.

**The month old cine-camera was lying on top of a small working tank that Dudley had driven over the next door neighbour's dog;**

Sirius opened his mouth to ask if the dog had been alright, but saw Harry making the sign of the cross with a mournful look on his face.

**In the corner was Dudley's first ever television set, which he'd put his foot through when his favourite show had been cancelled;**

"Brat!" several voices muttered as Lily and James returned.

**There was a large bird cage, which had once held a parrot that Dudley had swapped at school for an air rifle; the rifle itself was on a nearby shelf with a bent barrel because Dudley had sat on it.**

"That was how I knew he was beyond overweight," Harry joked, making his friends laugh.

**Other shelves were full of books. They seemed to be the only things that looked as though they'd never been touched.**

"Blasphemy," Remus exclaimed, Lily looked scandalized. Hermione looked like she was going to faint, "How can someone mistreat books like that?" she said faintly. Harry hugged her closer and whispered In her ear that he'd rescued those books and given them a good home, in fact he'd lent her half of them. Hermione, gave him a grateful smile and leaned into him again.

**From downstairs came the sound of Dudley bawling at his mother, "I don't want him in there… I need that room… make him get out…"**

"What you need is a clip round the ear," William said, the parents in the room nodded in agreement.

**Harry sighed and stretched out on the bed. Yesterday he'd have given anything to be up here. Today he'd rather be back in his cupboard with that letter than up here without it.**

"You always do the reckless thing first, _then_ you do the smart thing," Ron groaned.

"It's my trademark Ron," Harry replied.

**Next morning at breakfast, everyone was rather quiet.**

**Dudley was in shock. He'd screamed, whacked his father with his smelting stick, been sick on purpose, kicked his mother and thrown his pet tortoise through the greenhouse roof, and he still didn't have his room back.**

"'Bout time someone told him no," Snape muttered.

"If any of _my_ children behaved like that…" Mrs Weasley said.

Bill, Charlie and the twins shifted in their seats, they had never behaved that badly but, between them, they _may_ have screamed and been sick on purpose.

**Harry was thinking about this time yesterday and bitterly wishing he'd opened his letter in the hall. Uncle Vernon and aunt Petunia kept looking at each other darkly.**

**When the post arrived, uncle Vernon, who seemed to be trying to be nice to Harry, made Dudley go and get it. They heard him banging things with his smelting stick all the way down the hall. Then he shouted, "There's another one! 'Mr H Potter, the smallest bedroom, 4 Privet Drive – "**

"Idiot! If he wanted to read it, why did he shout out about it?" Severus said.

"He's an idiot," Harry said simply.

**With a strangled cry, uncle Vernon leapt from his seat and ran down the hall, Harry right behind him. Uncle Vernon had to wrestle Dudley to the ground to get the letter from him, which was made difficult by the fact Harry had grabbed his uncle around the neck from behind.**

Hermione and Ron suddenly burst out laughing. "Getting practice, Harry?" Ron wheezed out.

"Necks about the same width," Harry said.

**After a minute of confused fighting,**

"Go Harry" shouted the twins, marauders, Bill, Charlie, Tonks and Regulus.

**In which everyone got hit a lot by the smelting stick, uncle Vernon straightened up, Harry's letter clutched in his hand.**

"Damn"

"Ginerva!"

"**Got to your cupboard – I mean bedroom," he wheezed. "Dudley – go – just go,"**

**Harry walked round and round his new room. Someone knew he had moved out of the cupboard and they seemed to know he hadn't received the first letter. Surely that meant they'd try again? **

**And this time he'd make sure they didn't fail. He had a plan.**

Hermione, Ron, Neville and Ginny groaned.  
"What? My plans aren't that bad," Harry said indignantly.  
"Harry, until third year your plans would always backfire," Ron complained.  
Harry opened his mouth to say something but was cut off by Remus.  
"It seems Harry not only inherited your looks but your planning ability, Jamesie," Remus teased.  
"Oi!"  
"It's true; we plan, we get there, all hell breaks loose," Hermione teased.  
"Hey!"  
"Sound familiar, Jamesie," added Sirius, making both Potters glare at him, well Harry glared, James pouted.

**The repaired alarm clock rang at six o'clock the next morning. Harry turned it off quickly and dressed silently. He mustn't wake the Dursleys. He stole downstairs without turning on any of the lights.**

**He was going to wait for the postman on the corner of Privet Drive and collect the post for number 4 first.**

"That's not a bad plan," George said.

"It is, it's too simple for the walrus not to think of it too," Fred countered.

**His heart hammered as he crept across the dark hall to the front door – "AAAARRRGH!"**

"What is it?" Ginny shrieked.

**Harry leapt into the air; he'd trodden on something big and squashy – something alive!**

**Lights clicked on upstairs and to his horror Harry realised the big, squashy thing had been his uncle's face.**

**Uncle Vernon had been lying at the foot of the front door in a sleeping bag, clearly making sure Harry didn't do exactly what he'd tried to do.**

"Told you," Fred said smugly.

**He shouted at Harry for about twenty minutes and hit him several times, and then told him to go and make a cup of tea.**

Everyone was growling or muttering curses.

**Harry shuffled miserably onto the kitchen, trying hard to minimise the pain from the movement, and by the time he returned, the post had arrived right into Uncle Vernon's lap. Harry could see three letters addressed in green ink.**

"**I wan…" he began, but uncle Vernon was tearing the letters into pieces before his eyes.**

"Now that's cruel," Ginny said.

**Uncle Vernon didn't go to work that day. He stayed home and nailed shut the letterbox.**

"**See," he explained to aunt Petunia through a mouthful of nails, "If they can't deliver them they'll just give up."**

"**I'm not sure that will work, Vernon."**

"**Oh, these people's minds work in strange ways, Petunia, they're not like you and me," said Uncle Vernon.**

"Thank Merlin for that," Marlene exclaimed, several people nodded in agreement.

**As he tried to knock in a nail with a piece of fruitcake that aunt Petunia had just brought him.**

"There's a reason I cooked," Harry said seriously, making everyone laugh.

**On Friday, no less than twelve letters arrived for Harry. As they couldn't go through the letterbox they had been pushed under the door, slotted through the sides and a few even forced through the small window in the downstairs toilet.**

"Aunt Petunia was in there when that happened, I was deaf for 6 hours," Harry said to Minerva, who gave him an apologetic look.

**Uncle Vernon stayed at home again.**

**After burning the letters, he got out a hammer and nails and boarded up all the cracks around the front and back doors so no one could go out. He hummed 'Tiptoe through the tulips' as he worked and jumped at small noises.**

"And I thought Mad-Eye was paranoid," Ron muttered to Harry and the twins, who agreed.

**On Saturday, things began to get out of hand. Twenty four letters to Harry found their way into the house, rolled up and hidden inside each of the two dozen eggs that their very confused milkman had handed to aunt Petunia through the living room window.**

"Ok, that's a creative way to deliver them," the twins exclaimed in unison, before turning back to their notebook, which was now rather full.

**While uncle Vernon made furious telephone calls to the post office and dairy trying to find someone to complain to, aunt Petunia shredded the letters in her food processor.**

"**Who on earth wants to talk to you this badly?" Dudley asked Harry in amazement.**

"Gin…" The twins were interrupted by a flash of violet light. When it faded, there was a pair of Olive green Irish setters falling out of the twin's chairs. The two dogs spent several seconds trying to orientate themselves as the room roared with laughter.

The two managed to get to their paws and turned to look at each other. Harry laughed even harder as recognition and realisation lit up their furry faces and they turned to him with a mix of shock and admiration on their faces (well, as close as a wizard turned into a dog can).

Harry looked over to the teachers, and saw Snape chuckling merrily behind his hand and Minerva trying to glare like Mrs Weasley but it was ruined by the way the corners of her mouth kept twitching.

"Thanks, Harry," Ginny managed to say as she got her laughter under control.

"That was you!" Ron, Neville and Lavender shouted in disbelief. The twins had had their hair turned olive drab at the sorting feast and they were then turned into Irish setters at the leaving feast.

Harry smiled mischievously as the twins turned back with a pop, and then bowed before Harry chanting, "We're not worthy," as James smiled proudly at his son's creativity. Lily was trying to glare too but like Minerva her mouth was twitching.

**On Sunday morning, uncle Vernon sat down at the breakfast table looking tired and rather ill, but happy. "No post on Sundays," he reminded them, as he spread marmalade on his newspapers.**

"Wizards get post on Sundays," Harry said, before noticing Mr Weasley making notes about muggles on a piece of spare parchment. "Muggles don't eat newspapers, he was too stressed to think properly," he said, Mr Weasley crossed out one of his notes and thanked Harry for clarifying it.

"**No damn letters today…" something came whizzing out of the kitchen chimney as he spoke and caught him sharply on the back of the head. Next moment, thirty or forty letters came pelting out of the fireplace like bullets.**

**The Dursleys ducked, but Harry leapt into the air trying to catch one.**

"Why, you could just pick one off the floor?" Marlene asked.

"Instinct," Harry replied mysteriously.

"**OUT! Out!" Uncle Vernon seized Harry by the waist and threw him into the hall. Harry was slammed back first against the padlock bracket on the cupboard, cutting a deep line across his shoulders. **

The room erupted in outraged cries as Charlie walked over to Harry and quietly asked him something. Harry nodded and got up, they walked into one of the dorms and shut and locked the door.

Five minutes later everyone had calmed down enough to continue reading.

**When aunt Petunia and Dudley had run out with their arms over their faces, uncle Vernon slammed the door. They could hear the letters still streaming into the room bouncing of the walls and floor.**

"**That does it!" said uncle Vernon, trying to speak calmly but pulling out great tufts of his moustache at the same time. "I want you all back here in five minutes ready to leave. We're going away. Just pack some clothes. No arguments!"**

**He looked so dangerous with half his moustache missing that no one dared argue. Ten minutes later they had wrenched their way through the boarded up front door and were in the car, speeding towards the motorway. Harry winced at every little bump in the road, aunt Petunia had kindly bandaged the cut on his back but there wasn't much she could do for the pain. **

"That was the first truly kind thing she did for me," Harry said as he came back in causing everyone to be caught between anger at her previous cruelty and gratitude at her compassion.

**Dudley was sniffling next to him on the back seat; his father had hit round the head for trying to pack his television, VCR and computer in his sports bag.**

**They drove. And they drove. Even aunt Petunia didn't ask where they were going. Every now and then uncle Vernon would make a sharp turn and drive in the opposite direction for a while. "Shake 'em off… Shake 'em off," he would mutter whenever he did this.**

"He's gone mad"

**They didn't stop to eat or drink all day. By nightfall Dudley was howling.**

"I resent that," said Sirius, Remus, Harry and Hermione.

**He'd never had such a bad day in his life. He was hungry; he'd missed five television programs he'd wanted to see, and he'd never gone so long without blowing up an alien on his computer.**

**Uncle Vernon stopped at last outside a gloomy looking hotel on the outskirts of a big city. Dudley and harry shared a room with twin beds and damp, musty sheets. Dudley snored,**

"Practice for sharing a dorm with Ron and Neville," Harry said cheekily.

"Hey"

**But Harry stayed awake, sitting on the windowsill, staring down at the lights of the passing cars and wondering…**

"Wondering what?" Frank asked.

"Who was writing to me, why was Vernon taking such extreme measures to stop me getting a letter, and why did Dudley have to snore," Harry replied.

**They ate stale cornflakes and cold tinned tomatoes for breakfast the next day.**

"That's not a meal," Ron said angrily.

Harry and Hermione hid their snigger behind their hands, Ron took eating very seriously.

**They had just finished when the owner of the hotel came over to their table. "Scuse me, but is one of you Mr H Potter? Only I got about an 'undred of these at the front desk." She held up a letter so they could read the green ink address:**

**Mr H Potter**

**Room 17**

**Railview Hotel**

**Cokeworth**

**Harry made a grab for the letter but uncle Vernon knocked his hand out of the way. The woman stared.**

"Don't just stand there woman," Alice snapped.

"**I'll take them," uncle Vernon said, standing up quickly and following her from the dining room.**

"**Wouldn't it be better to just go home, dear?" aunt Petunia suggested timidly, hours later, but uncle Vernon didn't seem to hear her.**

"Listen to her, she knows more about our world," Severus said seriously.

"She also has more common sense," Harry added.

**Exactly what he was looking for, none of them knew. He drove them into the middle of a forest, got out, looked around, shook his head, got back in the car and they went off again. The same thing happened in the middle of a ploughed field, halfway across a suspension bridge and at the top of a multi-storey car park.**

"He's really lost it, hasn't he?" Horace said in amazement.

"**Daddy's gone mad hasn't he?" Dudley asked his mother dully later that afternoon. **

"Looks like Dudley agrees with you Professor," Marlene and Sirius said in unison, chuckling at the grimace on the potion masters face.

**Harry privately agreed as he tried to ignore the renewed throbbing in his back, the bandages hadn't been changed yet.**

Most people scowled, but Charlie growled loudly, that wound hadn't healed properly.

**Uncle Vernon had parked at the coast, locked them all inside the car and disappeared.**

**It started to rain. Great drops beat on the roof of the car. Dudley snivelled.**

"**It's Monday," he told his mother. "The Great Humberto's on tonight. I want to stay somewhere with a television."**

"Quiet Brat," Lucius muttered.

**Monday! This jogged Harry's memory, if today was Monday, (and you could usually trust Dudley to know the days of the week by the Program schedule for television) then tomorrow, Tuesday was his birthday.**

"Happy Birthday" shouted most of the room.

"It's not my birthday," Harry replied, he smiled though appreciating the gesture.

**Of course, his birthday was never exactly fun – last year he'd been given a coat hanger and an old pair of Vernon's socks',**

Most people muttered angrily at that, his friends and the Weasleys silently promised to spoil him next year.

**He also remembered his fifth birthday, where he'd been kicked around like a football for asking why he didn't get any presents on his birthday by both his cousin and uncle.**

The room erupted in angry shouts; many of the adults were berating Dumbledore while nearly everyone else was cursing loudly.

Harry clamped his hands over his ears; the noise level was becoming painful for him. Hermione noticed and placed a silencing charm on his ears, Harry gave her a grateful smile and a quick kiss on the lips, both missed Mrs Weasley's glare.

**And then Wednesday… Wednesday was… would have been his parents' wedding anniversary.**

Lily and James were surprised by this, along with everyone else.

**This was one of only three things he'd managed to get from his aunt about his parents that he didn't believe to be a lie, he doubted her story about the car crash and that they were wastrels, he also knew the dates of their birthdays.**

**Since he was seven, he'd sneak off to the local Catholic Church; even though he wasn't particularly religious, and stand in front of the small altar in the Lady Chapel.  
When he knew he wouldn't be seen, he'd start to talk to them; tell them how he was doing in school, at home, any new hobby's he'd started, how his relatives had changed since they last spoke, and how much he missed them. Finally he would wish them a happy anniversary before saying a quick prayer for them and leaving.  
No one, especially the Dursleys, knew about this except the priest, Father McCullen, who had seen him once and offered a few kind words.**

There wasn't a dry eye in the room, everyone was touched by how much Harry missed and still loved his parents. Lily and James went over and hugged him.

The three broke away after a few minutes and Lily and James returned to their seats.

**There wasn't much hope of continuing his ritual this year.**

Everyone smiled sadly at Harry.

**Uncle Vernon came back and he was smiling. Harry was immediately alarmed, whenever his uncle smiled like that it was best to run the other way.**

**He was also carrying a long, thin package and didn't answer when aunt Petunia asked what he'd bought. Harry was suddenly filled with a sense of dread, he had a suspicion of what his uncle had bought, and if he was right he didn't want it anywhere near the man and was tempted to dump it in the ocean when his uncle was asleep.**

Most of the wizards in the room were confused, but the muggleborns and halfbloods, and teachers, looked thoughtful for a moment before their eyes widened in horror.  
"He didn't?" Hermione asked in a terrified whisper, her deep brown eyes expressing her fear as clearly as her face.  
Harry nodded grimly and Hermione hugged herself tighter to him and buried her face in his neck, as if afraid he would be taken from her at any second.

"**Found the perfect place!" he said. "Come on! Everyone out!"**

**It was very cold outside the car. Uncle Vernon was pointing to what looked like a large rock, about half a mile out to sea. Perched on top of it, was the most miserable shack one could imagine. One thing was for certain, there was no television there.**

"**Storm forecast for tonight!" said uncle Vernon gleefully, clapping his hands together.**

"Uh oh," someone said, Harry glanced around and saw that everyone looked worried.

"**And this gentleman has kindly agreed to lend us his boat!" A toothless old man came ambling up to them and pointed, with a rather wicked grin, to an old rowboat in the iron-grey water below them.  
"I've already got us some rations," said uncle Vernon, "So all aboard!"**

**It was freezing in the boat. Icy sea spray and rain crept down their necks as a chill wind whipped their faces. After what seemed like hours they reached the rock, where uncle Vernon, slipping and sliding, led the way to the derelict house.**

**The inside was horrible; it smelled strongly of seaweed, the wind whistled through gaps in the wooden walls, and the fireplace was damp and empty. There were only two rooms.**

**Uncle Vernon's rations turned out to be a bag of crisps each and four bananas.**

"That's not enough to feed a chipmunk," Ron exclaimed, as his friends chuckled.

**He tried to start a fire but the empty crisp bags just smoked and shrivelled up**

"**Could do with some of those letters now, eh?" he said cheerfully.**

"Git," chorused several voices.

**He was in a very good mood; he obviously believed nobody stood a chance of making it through the storm to deliver post. Harry privately agreed, but the thought didn't cheer him up and he wasn't going to let the walrus know that.**

Harry's friends looked like they agreed.

**As night fell, the promised storm rolled in. spray from the high waves splattered against the walls of the hut and a fierce wind rattled the filthy windows. Aunt Petunia found a few old blankets in the second room and made a bed for Dudley on the moth eaten sofa. She and uncle Vernon took the bed in the second room,**

**And Harry was left to find the softest bit of floor and to curl up under the thinnest, most ragged blanket.**

There were several angry outbursts that strained Hermione's silencing charm.

**The storm ragged more ferociously as the night wore on. Harry couldn't sleep, between the storm and the wound on his back, which, due to the boat being tossed about, was bleeding again.**

Charlie started growling again as Hermione swore quietly and cuddled closer to Harry.

**He shivered and gently turned over, trying to get comfortable, his stomach rumbling with hunger.**

**Near midnight, Dudley's snores began to be drowned out by thunder that echoed over the harbour. The beacon from the break water shone through the window every few seconds and Harry lifted his wrist into the glow to check the time on his new watch, he'd be eleven in ten minutes time.**

**He lay and watched his birthday tick nearer, drawing a birthday cake with candles in the dust and soot in front of him,**

Everyone looked sadly at Harry, he shouldn't have had to do that.

**Wondering if the Dursleys would remember it,**

"Probably not," Bill muttered.

**Wondering where the letter writer was now.**

"In the top right draw in McGonagall's desk," Harry said, surprising most people, especially the older McGonagall.

**Five minutes to go. Harry heard something creak outside. He hoped the roof wouldn't collapse, but he might be warmer if it did.**

Hermione slapped Harry's arm, "Don't think like that again," she said loudly, sounding very worried.

**Four minutes to go. Maybe the house in Privet Drive would be so full of letters when they get back they wouldn't notice him hide one.**

"That's doable," Fred said.

**Three minutes to go. Was that the sea, slapping hard on the rock like that?**

**Two minutes to go. What was that funny crunching noise? Was the rock crumbling into the sea?**

The parents and teachers suddenly became very worried.

**One minute to go and he'd be eleven, he just put the finishing touches to the cake drawing.**

**Thirty seconds… twenty… ten… nine – maybe he'd wake up Dudley, just to annoy him.**

"Do it… do it… do it…" the twins and marauders chanted.

**Three… two… one… "Make a wish, Harry" Harry said before blowing at the candles on the cake he'd drawn.**

**BOOM.**

"SIRIUS!" Remus and Harry cried, clutching their ears, after Sirius shouted.

"It's bolded, I've got to shout when it's bolded," Sirius explained grinning.

"Thank god he didn't get a chapter with lots of shouting," Harry muttered, Remus nodded in agreement.

**The whole shack shivered and Harry sat bolt upright. Someone was outside, knocking to come in.**

"Who was it?" Narcissa asked.

"My biggest friend," Harry replied.

"Who wants to read next?" Sirius asked, holding up the book.

"I will" said Remus, taking the book from Sirius.

As he opened the book to the right page there was another flash of light and four people landed in the space in the middle of the circle.


	5. Chapter 5-The Keeper Of Keys

The Keeper of Keys

There was a flash of light and four people landed in the middle of the room. Two of them blocked Harry's view of the other two, but that didn't matter to him, he was very happy to see the two people he could see.

The newcomers spent several seconds looking around, disorientated, and everyone was staring at them in curiosity or disbelief.

There was suddenly a loud bark, which made the four turn around before they were bowled over by a collie jumping on a man with shoulder length wavy black hair, grey eyes and a beard. Despite knocking the four down, the dog managed to stay on the man and started licking his face excitedly, who tried and failed to defend his face from the excited canine's tongue.

"No… please… stop… Moony, help me," he said between attacks as nearly everyone started laughing at him, except the twins who perked up at the nickname.

"I'm sorry Padfoot, I think it's fitting after how you greeted Harry during the summer," Remus laughed, clearly enjoying his friend's plight, he smiled at the twin's faces.

The collie finally stopped attacking Sirius, who was now well and truly slobbered on, and bounded over to Remus who was able to prevent the dog from trying to lick him to death but the dog still greeted him excitedly.

Sirius managed to get up and everyone saw that his hair had been slicked back by dog saliva, making several people fall out of their seats laughing.

Remus managed to calm the dog down enough to draw its attention to the two others that came with him and Sirius, the dogs eyes widened comically and it fainted.

Hermione jumped up and rushed to the dog's side but noticed the two others as she reached it and had to be held up by Remus.

"You're… you're Lily and James Potter," she said faintly as they smiled, "But, how?"

"The Philosopher's Stone, an overused Pensieve and a grateful six hundred year old alchemist and scholar were involved," James said, looking around for his son, who he was looking forward to meeting. "We were revived a short time ago and were told Harry was here," he continued, looking directly at Hermione, now slightly concerned he hadn't seen his son.

"Where is Harry?" Lily asked, voicing her husband's question, having also looked around for Harry.

Sirius, Remus and Harry's friends exchanged a look before Hermione sat next to the dog, pulling its head gently into her lap and Remus drew his wand and cast the Animagus revealing spell.

Lily and James watched in amazement as the collie that had attacked Sirius transformed into a near perfect copy of a 15 year old James with a lightning bolt scar on his forehead. They just stood and stared for a few moments as Hermione gently ran her fingers through her boyfriend's hair. Lily and James joined her beside their son, who woke after several minutes. When he saw his parents looking down at him, he looked like he was going to faint again.

"Mum? Dad?" he asked, not quite believing his eyes as he sat up. The pair smiled brightly and they gently pulled him into a hug.

Hermione got up and walked back to the couch she shared with Harry, smiling at the twins who looked like they were going to burst at meeting their idols but unwilling to ruin the family moment.

After a few minutes the hug broke up and there was a whispered conversation before the family rose and went to find seats. Harry went to return to the couch with Hermione but stopped short.

"Mum, Dad, this is Hermione Granger, one of my best friends and girlfriend, and the first person to beat your first year charms score mum," Harry said, introducing his girlfriend before smiling cheekily.  
Hermione blushed at the praise, she'd secretly admired Harry's mother as a role model since first year when Minerva compared her favourably to Lily, and now she was meeting her.  
"Hello Mr and Mrs Potter, it's nice to meet you, it's good that Harry has his family back," she said, smiling nervously.

The two smiled back warmly, "Hello Hermione and it's just Lily and James," Lily said, smiling as James grimaced slightly.  
"Please don't call me Mr Potter, it either makes me look around for my father or feel old," he said, making Harry smile at him.  
"But you are old," he said, ducking a jinx as the other marauders roared with laughter.

"Take a seat, we can catch up later," Harry said, gesturing to a couch that had magically appeared next to his and Hermione's on his side, while Sirius and Remus joined the group of chairs around the twins (who were whispering furiously to them for confirmation that they were the marauders).  
As his parents got comfortable, on the couch and with each other for the first time in 14 years, Harry decided to address a problem.

"Hey guys I think we should call the younger marauders by their nicknames and young lily by Evans to avoid confusion," he suggested, receiving many agreeing nods and the agreement of the people mentioned.

With that, Moony turned to the correct page and started reading.

"**The Keeper of the Keys, **moony began.

"Fred, are you thinking what I'm thinking?" George asked.

"Well George, if I'm thinking what you think I'm thinking, then you're thinking that I'm thinking that we may know who the keeper of keys is," Fred replied, deliberately trying to be as confusing as possible.

It took nearly everyone a few moments to recover, which is when Hermione noticed Harry, "Harry?"

Harry had his head in his hands and was shaking it, "I'm going out of what's left of the tiny little mind I came here with," he said, making several people laugh and the twins stand up and bow.

"Don't fight it, Harry," Ron joked, patting his shoulder.

**BOOM.**

"Come on Moony, you're meant to shout it," Sirius and Padfoot complained.

**They knocked again. Dudley jerked awake.**

**"Where's the cannon?" he said stupidly.**

"Cannon?" asked the purebloods.

"Muggle combustion weapon, lethal up to a mile against anything from people to fortress walls depending on the projectile it fires," Harry explained, the purebloods nodded in understanding, looking both impressed and afraid.

**There was a crash behind them and Uncle Vernon came skidding into the room. He was holding a rifle in his hands, Harry swore loudly but no one paid attention, he knew he should have dumped the package into the sea.**

Hermione squeaked, wrapped her arms around Harry and hugged him close. His parents noticed but were in a similar state themselves; they were going to have a few choice words with their in-laws when this was over.

**"Who's there?" he shouted. "I warn you — I'm armed!"**

"We've got arms," said Frank, confused.

"It means he has a weapon," Tonks explained.

**There was a pause. Then —**

**SMASH!**

**The door was hit with such force that it swung clean off its hinges and with a deafening crash landed flat on the floor.**

**A giant of a man** **was standing in the doorway. His face was almost completely hidden by a long, shaggy mane of hair and a wild, tangled beard, but you could make out his eyes, glinting like black beetles under all the hair.**

"Hagrid!"

**The giant squeezed his way into the hut, stooping so that his head just brushed the ceiling. He bent down, picked up the door, and fitted it easily back into its frame. The noise of the storm outside dropped a little. He turned to look at them all.**

**"Couldn't make us a cup o' tea, could yeh? It's not been an easy journey…"**

"Typical Hagrid," Ron and both Sirius' said fondly, not realising they'd spoken in unison while everyone else exchanged grins.

**He strode over to the sofa where Dudley sat frozen with fear.**

**"Budge up, yeh great lump," said the stranger.**

"You tell him Hagrid"

**Dudley squeaked and ran to hide behind his mother, **

"How will that help? He's a whale and she's a horse," prongs asked.

**who was crouching, terrified, behind Uncle Vernon.**

"Oh, by hiding behind the bigger whale," Prongs continued, nodding.

**"An' here's Harry!" said the giant.**

"Did I go somewhere?" Harry joked, making everyone laugh.

**Harry looked up into the fierce, wild, shadowy face and saw that the beetle eyes were crinkled in a smile.**

"He's an overgrown teddy bear most of the time," Ginny said, several people muttered in agreement.

**"Las' time I saw you, you was only a baby," said the giant. "Yeh look a lot like yer dad, but yeh've got yer mom's eyes." **

"First time someone said that and not the last, ironically it was that mutt that noticed I was getting tired of hearing that," Harry said, making both sets of his parents smile while everyone chuckled at Sirius' expression.

**Uncle Vernon made a funny rasping noise.**

**"I demand that you leave at once, sir!" he said. "You are breaking and entering!"**

"As if you could tell Hagrid what to do," Regulus sneered, he was actually fond of the half-giant, who had actually given him a lot of help on his care of magical creatures assignments after he found Regulus struggling to study one day by the lake.

**"Ah, shut up, Dursley, yeh great prune," said the giant;**

**He reached over the back of the sofa, jerked the gun out of Uncle Vernon's hands, bent it into a knot as easily as if it had been made of rubber, and** **threw it into a corner of the room.**

"Go Hagrid!" cheered the twins and Tonks, while most of the adults and Hermione relaxed, and Hermione released her death grip on Harry.

**Uncle Vernon made another funny noise, like a mouse being trodden on.**

There was another burst of laughter.

**"Anyway — Harry," said the giant, turning his back on the Dursleys, "a very happy birthday to yeh. Got summat fer yeh here — I mighta sat on it at some point, but it'll taste all right."**

**From an inside pocket of his black overcoat he pulled a slightly squashed box. Harry opened it with trembling fingers. Inside was a large, sticky chocolate cake with 'Happy Birthday Harry' written on it in green icing.**

"Careful Harry," Prongs warned, well acquainted with Hagrid's cooking.

"He got it from the kitchens," Harry said, hoping to ease his father's concerns.

**Harry looked up at the giant. Suddenly there was a flicker of recognition, "I know your face, it was in a dream I had. We were on a motorbike flying over a port city," Harry said, wondering, if this man was real, was the dream real?**

"Yes it was Harry," Sirius said quietly.

**The giant smiled at him.**

**"I'm glad yer remember me Harry that was the night your parents died and I brought you to yer relatives. That did 'appen and I still have the bike if yeh'd like ter see it later. My name's Rubeus Hagrid, I'm the Keeper of Keys and Grounds at Hogwarts."**

**He held out an enormous hand and shook Harry's whole arm.**

Several people rubbed their shoulders subconsciously; Hagrid didn't always know his own strength.

**"What about that tea then, eh?" he said, rubbing his hands together. "I'd not say no ter summat stronger if yeh've got it, mind."**

"Hagrid!" Mrs Weasley scolded.

**His eyes fell on the empty grate with the shrivelled chip bags in it and he snorted. He bent down over the fireplace; they couldn't see what he was doing but when he drew back a second later, there was a roaring fire there. It filled the whole damp hut with flickering light and Harry felt the warmth wash over him as though he'd sunk into a hot bath.**

"Best feeling in the world," Harry said, winking at Hermione who blushed.

**The giant sat back down on the sofa, which sagged under his weight, and began taking all sorts of things out of the pockets of his coat: a copper kettle, a squashy package of sausages, a poker, a teapot, several chipped mugs, and a bottle of some amber liquid that he took a swig from before starting to make tea.**

"It was butterbeer," Harry explained as both his mother and Mrs Weasley opened their mouths to scold Hagrid. "I remembered the smell when Fred and George smuggled me some from Hogsmeade."

They looked mollified until they realised what he'd said, along with Minerva and Snape, and looked questioningly at the twins, who shared a nervous glance and said "we take the fifth."

**Soon the hut was full of the sound and smell of sizzling sausage. Nobody said a thing while the giant was working, but as he slid the first six fat, juicy, slightly burnt sausages from the poker, **

Both Sirius' and Ron's stomachs rumbled. "Human dustbin," Harry said fondly as both James' said "Bottomless pit," before staring at each other in shock.

**Dudley fidgeted a little. Uncle Vernon said sharply, "Don't touch anything he gives you, Dudley."**

**The giant chuckled darkly.**

**"Yer great puddin' of a son don' need fattenin' anymore, Dursley, don' worry." **

"I don't think truer words have ever been spoken," Regulus said solemnly, most of the teens nodded in agreement.

**He passed the sausages to Harry, who was so hungry he had** **never tasted anything so wonderful, but he still couldn't take his eyes off the giant. Finally, as nobody seemed about to explain anything, he said, "I'm sorry, but I still don't really know who you are."**

**The giant took a gulp of tea and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.**

**"Call me Hagrid," he said, "everyone does. An' like I told yeh, I'm Keeper of Keys at Hogwarts — yeh'll know all about Hogwarts, o' course.**

**"Er — no," said Harry.**

**Hagrid looked shocked.**

**"Sorry," Harry said quickly.**

"Why are you apologising? It's not your fault" Hermione asked as Molly and Lily were opening their mouths to ask.

"It's an old habit," Harry shrugged. "Those three drove it into my mind that I was always at fault."

The Lily and Molly, among others, looked furious as Hermione settled back into Harry's arms, trying not to get mad at these animals.

**"Sorry?" barked Hagrid, turning to stare at the Dursleys, who shrank back into the shadows. "It's them as should be sorry! I knew yeh weren't gettin' yer letters but I never thought yeh wouldn't even know abou' Hogwarts, fer cryin' out loud! Did yeh never wonder where yer parents learned it all?"**

**"I don't know anything about my parents apart from their birthdays and wedding anniversary," said Harry sadly.**

Lily and James were shocked while prongs, Evans, Charlus and Dorea looked close to crying.

**Hagrid sat there, completely shocked.**

**"Now wait jus' one second!"**

**He had leapt to his feet. In his anger he seemed to fill the whole hut. The Dursleys were cowering against the wall.**

"Which is an achievement given the size of two of them."

**"Do you mean ter tell me," he growled at the Dursleys, "that this boy — this boy! — knows nothin' abou' — about ANYTHING?"**

"That's a bit much isn't it?" Lucius said.

**Harry thought this was going a bit far. He had been to school, after all, and his marks weren't too bad.**

"Wow, Harry agrees with a Malfoy," Ron muttered, before being hit in the face by a cushion.

**"I know some things," he said. "I can, you know, do maths and stuff."**

**But Hagrid simply waved his hand and said, "About our world, I mean. Your world. My world. Yer parents' world."**

**"What world?" Harry asked, now quite confused.**

**Hagrid looked as if he was about to explode.**

Nearly everyone shivered, Hagrid losing his temper was never pretty.

**"DURSLEY!" he boomed.**

**Uncle Vernon, who had gone very pale, whispered something that sounded like "Mimblewimble." **

"Really?" Neville asked incredulously.

"Yeah," Harry replied.

**Hagrid stared wildly at Harry. "But yeh must know about yer mom and dad," he said. "I mean, they're famous. You're famous."**

**"What? My — my mom and dad weren't famous, were they?"**

"Didn't you hear the second part?" Alice Joked, making a few people chuckle.

Harry fixed her with his fiercest glare, "At that time and for the next three years I was only concerned with finding out as muc about my parents as I could," He said, he hated his fame with a passion.

Alice flinched violently, not even Lily could glare like that.

**"Yeh don' know… yeh don' know…" Hagrid ran his fingers through his hair, fixing Harry with a bewildered stare.**

**"Yeh don' know what yeh are?" he said finally.**

**Uncle Vernon suddenly found his voice.**

"Bugger,"

"GEORGE WEASLEY!"

**"Stop!" he commanded. "Stop right there, sir! I forbid you to tell the boy anything!"**

"Shut up Dursley," James shouted, now very annoyed with the man.

**A braver man than Vernon Dursley would have quailed under the furious look Hagrid now gave him; when Hagrid spoke, his every syllable trembled with rage.**

"That, was scary,"

**"You never told him? Never told him what was in the letter Dumbledore left fer him? I was there! I saw Dumbledore leave it, Dursley! An' you've kept it from him all these years?"**

**"Kept what from me?" said Harry, now very confused and getting annoyed the throbbing from the wound on his back wasn't helping.**

James and Lily spun around to Harry, fear in their eyes, but he cut them off before they could say anything, "I'll ask to stop after this so we can explain everything, but I want to do this in private and we may need copies of the books to help." They didn't look happy and neither did Sirius and Remus but they agreed.

**"STOP! I FORBID YOU!" yelled Uncle Vernon in panic.**

**Aunt Petunia gave a gasp of horror.**

"Drama queen," Lily muttered.

**"Ah, go boil yer heads, both of yeh," said Hagrid.**

"No!" Harry said firmly as the twins perked up.

**"Harry — yer a wizard."**

**There was silence inside the hut. Only the sea and the whistling wind could be heard.**

**"I'm a what?" gasped Harry.**

"Nice reaction," Bill managed to say, as everyone laughed.

"I was the same," Hermione said quietly, looking into his eyes. Harry smiled gave her a hug as she cuddled up to him again.

**"A wizard, o' course," said Hagrid, sitting back down on the sofa, which groaned and sank even lower, "an' a thumpin' good 'un, I'd say, once yeh've been trained up a bit. With a mum an' dad like yours, what else would yeh be? **

"Thanks Hagrid," Both couples said.

**An' I reckon it's abou' time yeh read yer letter."**

"Finally," the twins said dramatically.

**Harry stretched out his hand at last to take the yellowish envelope, addressed in emerald green to:**

**Mr. H. Potter**

**The Floor**

**Hut-on-the-Rock**

**The Sea.**

**He pulled out the letter and read:**

**HOGWARTS SCHOOL of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY**

**Headmaster: ALBUS DUMBLEDORE**

**(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock, Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards)**

**Dear Mr. Potter,**

**We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment.**

**Term begins on September 1. We await your owl by no later than July 31.**

**Yours sincerely,**

**Minerva McGonagall,**

**Deputy Headmistress**

**Questions exploded inside Harry's head like fireworks and he couldn't decide which to ask first. After a few minutes he stammered, "What does it mean, they await my owl?"**

"That's your first question?" Severus asked, genuinely curious, while most people seemed ready to start laughing.

"The reply to my letter had to be sent that day, my birthday, and the word owl was implied to mean a form of message or delivery system, so I wanted an explanation," Harry explained, making most people think about it.

**"Gallopin' Gorgons, that reminds me," said Hagrid, clapping a hand to his forehead with enough force to knock over a cart horse, and from yet another pocket inside his overcoat he pulled an owl — a real, live, rather ruffled-looking owl**

"Poor owl," Alice and Lily said.

"That's a special breed of owl, they're meant for that kind of work. Besides the nest in the coat is protected by a steel wire framework and even has an air vent," Harry explained, having asked Hagrid shortly after why he had an owl in his pocket.

Lily and Alice seemed caught on what to think will everyone else looked thoughtful.

— **a long quill, and a roll of parchment. With his tongue between his teeth he scribbled a note that Harry could read upside down:**

"That's an achievement, I can't read his writing right side up," Moony said, several people nodded in agreement.

_**Dear Professor Dumbledore,**_

_**Given Harry his letter.**_

_**Taking him to buy his things tomorrow.**_

_**Weather's horrible. Hope you're well.**_

_**Hagrid**_

**Hagrid rolled up the note, gave it to the owl, which clamped it in its beak, went to the door, and threw the owl out into the storm. Then he came back and sat down as though this was as normal as talking on the telephone.**

**Harry realized his mouth was open and closed it quickly.**

**"Where was I?" said Hagrid, but at that moment, Uncle Vernon, still ashen-faced but looking very angry, moved into the firelight.**

"I'd forgotten about him," someone muttered.

**"He's not going," he said.**

"I'd like to see you stop him," Regulus snarled.

**Hagrid grunted.**

**"I'd like ter see a great Muggle like you stop him," he said.**

Regulus blushed as his friends laughed.

**"A what?" said Harry, interested.**

**"A Muggle," said Hagrid, "it's what we call nonmagic folk like them. An' it's your bad luck you grew up in a family o' the biggest Muggles I ever laid eyes on."**

"Figuratively and literally," both Sirius' said.

**"We swore when we took him in we'd put a stop to that rubbish," said Uncle Vernon, "swore we'd stamp it out of him! Wizard indeed!"**

"Harry? They didn't… did they?" Lily asked, her beautiful eyes were wide in fear, James was also looking very afraid for his son.

"Not specifically, no," Harry said, his face grim as Hermione tightened her grip on his arm. "But Vernon had no problems when it came to punishments." He admitted, before telling them he would try to explain during the recap.

James looked murderous, while Lily was caught between her fear and concern for her son and wanting to tear her sister and brother-in-law limb from limb.

**"You knew?" said Harry. "You knew I'm a — a wizard?"**

**"Knew!" shrieked Aunt Petunia suddenly. "Knew! Of course we knew! How could you not be, my dratted sister being what she was?**

"There's nothing wrong with Lily," both James' bellowed, making both Lily's blush slightly.

**Oh, she got a letter just like that and disappeared off to that — that school — and came home every vacation with her pockets full of frog spawn, turning teacups into rats.**

"What about the statute for secrecy?" Charlie asked.

"Muggleborns and some muggle raised are permitted to perform magic in their homes, for their parents, for a single 24 hour period during the summer holidays," Dumbledore explained.

"Not fair," muttered most of the pureblood teens.

**I was the only one who saw her for what she was — a freak!**

"She is not!" Harry shouted, surprising most people, but getting appreciative smiles from Evans and his mother.

**But for my mother and father, oh no, it was Lily this and Lily that, they were proud of having a witch in the family!"**

"As they should be, Lily's a credit to any family," James said, earning a smile from Evans and a kiss from his wife.

**She stopped to draw a deep breath and then went ranting on. It seemed she had been wanting to say all this for years.**

"Oh she had," Harry muttered angrily.

**"Then she met that Potter at school and they left and got married and had you, and of course I knew you'd be just the same, just as strange, just as — as —abnormal — and then, if you please, she went and got herself blown up and we got landed with you!"**

"That's how you found out," Ron growled, both Lily's looked like they'd been slapped.

Hermione got up and walked towards the door.

"Miss Granger, where are you going?" Minerva asked.

"To kill Harry's aunt," she replied coldly.

Harry shot up and went after her, grabbing her as she reached the door.

"Harry, Let Me Go, she deserves this," Hermione muttered, struggling to break out of Harry's grip.

"NO!" Harry said, not quite shouting but perhaps better if he had. "If you go, you'll do something that'll get you arrested, they're not worth it." He stopped as she started to struggle harder, he put his arms round her and pulled her tight, pinning her arms to her sides.

"They did everything they could to destroy me, but they couldn't," he said, his mouth opened and closed three times as he tried to think of the words to say, eventually settling being completely honest. "You didn't let them," he admitted, her struggles died as she stared straight into his eyes, not believing what she'd heard.

"After Halloween, you were always there for me, from quidditch to our studies, to our adventures. Every day I was in that house, a little part of me died inside. They left scars more permanent than the ones carved into my skin. I had nothing that I could feel good about; not school, not in completing my chores, and I had no friends. I was left to wallow in my crappy life; they made sure I had no escape.  
When I came to Hogwarts I had no expectations other than being away from the Dursleys, I didn't know what it meant to have friends who would support me and stand by me, to have a family that loved me, to have teachers that encouraged and supported me or would defend me.  
You and Ron and Minnie, taught me what that meant and more. But it was you that taught me how to love and what it felt like to be loved, and it was you who gave me hope.  
You saved me, without you I would have gone dark a long time ago, maybe even replaced voldemort, but I didn't because you were there to help me, hold me and heal me.

I know they deserve it but they're not worth going to Azkaban. You saved me from a terrible fate; I won't let you throw your life away, even if it means you'll hate me for doing so. I can't lose you 'mione," Harry said, his every word laced with emotion.

Hermione stared at him for several seconds with tear filled eyes. Harry loosened his grip and she threw her arms round his neck and hugged him, burying her face in his neck.  
"I love you 'mione," Harry said, still filling his voice with raw emotion.  
"I love you too Harry," Hermione said quietly, she then lifted her head and kissed him, he returned it instantly. Both were oblivious to the whistles and cheers, as well as Mrs Weasley's frown, as the kiss lasted over a minute, before having to break it to get their breath back.

"Come on, let's sit down. I promise that you'll be included when Fred and George set off on their revenge trip," Harry said, taking a step back towards the circle and holding out his hand. Hermione took his hand and walked with him back to their couch, briefly stopping to conjure a second notebook for the twins in exchange for a promise that they could assist with setup. When they sat down, both were blushing furiously from comments from the twins, their friends, Prongs and Padfoot.

"At least I got a date with the girl of my dreams before sixth year," Harry shouted, shutting prongs and padfoot up.

**Harry had gone very white. As soon as he found his voice he said, "Blown up? You told me they died in a car crash!"**

"What?" Lily, James, Sirius and Remus shouted. Lily got up and strode quickly to the door, James followed her, obviously hoping to calm his wife.

"Why didn't you tell us?" Sirius growled, Remus too angry to talk and judging by the gold edging to his eyes, trying to keep the wolf down.  
"Honestly, I never came up," Harry replied, shifting slightly to get comfortable with Hermione's head on his shoulder.

There was a yell from the door, everyone turned to find Lily hexing James repeatedly until she calmed down and realised what she'd done and hastily tried to counter everything she'd cast. Bill, both McGonagalls and Dumbledore went over to help her and heal James.

"Huh, it seems he failed where you succeeded Harry," Sirius stated, not sure whether to feel sorry for his best friend or proud of his godson, as James was brought back to his seat, hex free, on a stretcher, groaning.

"Well I learnt how to defuse a brainy girls temper early on, clearly my dad never did," Harry said, grinning at his father's face as Sirius and Remus nodded while Lily blushed.

Moony continued reading after James was helped back into his seat

**"CAR CRASH!" roared Hagrid, jumping up so angrily that the Dursleys scuttled back to their corner. "How could a car crash kill Lily an' James Potter? It's an outrage! A scandal! **

"I second that" Padfoot said.

**Harry Potter not knowin' his own story when every kid in our world knows his name!"**

"Really?" asked Lily and James, Harry hung his head as Hermione hugged him while their friends and Sirius and Remus nodded.

**"What? What happened?" Harry asked, a cold feeling settling in his gut.**

**The anger faded from Hagrid's face. He looked** **suddenly anxious.**

**"I never expected this," he said, in a low, worried voice. "I had no idea, when Dumbledore told me there might be trouble gettin' hold of yeh, how much yeh didn't know. Ah, Harry, I don' know if I'm the right person ter tell yeh — but someone's gotta — yeh can't go off ter Hogwarts not knowin'."**

"That would have been hilarious," Ron said

"No it bloody well wouldn't!" Harry shouted

"HARRY!" cried Lily and Hermione.

**He threw a dirty look at the Dursleys.**

**"Well, it's best yeh know as much as I can tell yeh — mind, I can't tell yeh everythin', it's a great myst'ry, parts of it…"**

"That's true," Snape said quietly.

**He sat down, stared into the fire for a few seconds, and then said, "It begins, I suppose, with — with a person called — but it's incredible yeh don't know his name, everyone in our world knows —"**

"But he's not in our world," Regulus said, trying hard not to sound offensive, which surprised both Sirius'

**"Who?"**

"That's one part, two more and you're there," Charlie joked.

**"Well — I don' like sayin' the name if I can help it. No one does."**

"Cowardly sheep," Harry muttered.

"BAAA" said the twins, making everyone laugh.

**"Why not?"**

**"Gulpin' gargoyles, Harry, people are still scared. Blimey, this is difficult. See, there was this wizard who went… bad. As bad as you could go. Worse. Worse than worse. **

"That doesn't quite cover it," Charlus muttered.

**His name was…"**

**Hagrid gulped, but no words came out.**

"He won't say it, even Dumbledore can't do that," Padfoot said, Harry, Ron and Neville exchanged a look.

"Three galleons says he does," they said, Sirius accepted and Marlene collected the bets and held the pot.

**"Could you write it down?" Harry suggested.**

**"Nah — can't spell it.**

**All right —Voldemort. "**

"What?" Sirius cried, as his money was sent to the others. Everyone, even Dumbledore looked very impressed with Harry for getting Hagrid to say the name.

**Hagrid shuddered. "Don' make me say it again. Anyway, this — this wizard, about twenty years ago now, started lookin' fer followers. Got 'em, too — some were afraid, some just wanted a bit o' his power, 'cause he was gettin' himself power, all right. Dark days, Harry. Didn't know who ter trust, didn't dare get friendly with strange wizards or witches… terrible things happened. He was takin' over. 'Course, some stood up to him — an' he killed 'em. Horribly. One o' the only safe places left was Hogwarts. Reckon Dumbledore's the only one You-Know-Who was afraid of. Didn't dare try takin' the school, not jus' then, anyway.**

**"Now, yer mum an' dad were as good a witch an' wizard as I ever knew. **

**Head boy an' girl at Hogwarts in their day! **

"What?" cried the young marauders, Evans and their friend's.

"Him, Head boy?" Evans screamed in disbelief, oblivious to Marlene and Alice's giggles..

"I'm disowning you," padfoot said very seriously, looking round Marlene to look him in the eye while Moony congratulated prongs. Sirius, Lily and Remus laughed as their reactions had been exactly the same.

"After Minnie told me more about you two, I remembered that," Harry said to his parents loud enough for their younger counterparts to hear. "That was the moment I realised Dumbledore was cracked."  
Nearly all his friends burst out laughing as Dumbledore shrugged and admitted he had planned to give James the badge.

**Suppose the myst'ry is why You-Know-Who never tried to get 'em on his side before… probably knew they were too close ter Dumbledore ter want anythin' ter do with the Dark Side.**

**"Maybe he thought he could persuade 'em… maybe he just wanted 'em outta the way. All anyone knows is, he turned up in the village where you was all living, on Halloween ten years ago. You was just a year old. He came ter yer house an' — an' —"**

**Hagrid suddenly pulled out a very dirty, spotted handkerchief and blew his nose with a sound like a foghorn.**

**"Sorry," he said. "But it's that sad — knew yer mum an' dad, an' nicer people yeh couldn't find — anywa…**

"I never knew he cared for us that much," James said, Lily quietly agreed with him both very touched.

**"You-Know-Who killed 'em. An' then — an' this is the real myst'ry of the thing — he tried to kill you, too. Wanted ter make a clean job of it, I suppose, or maybe he just liked killin' by then. But he couldn't do it.** **Never wondered how you got that mark on yer forehead? That was no ordinary cut. That's what yeh get when a powerful, evil curse touches yeh — took care of yer mum an' dad an' yer house, even — but it didn't work on you, an' that's why yer famous, Harry.**

**No one ever lived after he decided ter kill 'em, no one except you, an' he'd killed some o' the best witches an' wizards of the age — **

**the McKinnons,**

"No"

Everyone turned to look at padfoot who was staring at Marlene, who was as pale as the bloody baron, before pulling her into a close hug. She wrapped her arms around him and started crying into his neck; padfoot just held her and rubbed her back, whispering a promise to protect her with his life. Marlene lifted her head and stared into his eyes for a moment; she then kissed him softly on the lips and thanked him, saying she couldn't ask for a better boyfriend.  
All their friends did a double-take as padfoot asked if she was serious, she told him "yes, I've actually been waiting for you to ask." Padfoot asked her there and she said yes as she leaned into him.

Sirius was openly crying over his long dead girlfriend and was being comforted by Lily and Remus.

**The Bones,**

**The Prewetts**

Molly started crying as she remembered her brothers, Fabian and Gideon.

**- an' you was only a baby, an' you lived."**

**Something very painful was going on in Harry's mind. As Hagrid's story came to a close, he saw again the blinding flash of green light, more clearly than he had ever remembered it before — and he remembered something else, for the first time in his life: a high, cold, cruel laugh.**

Lily gasped as everyone stared at him. No one should have to remember that.

**Hagrid was watching him sadly.**

**"Took yeh from the ruined house myself, on Dumbledore's orders. Brought yeh ter this lot…."**

**"Load of old tosh," said Uncle Vernon. Harry jumped; he had almost forgotten that the Dursleys were there.**

"So did we."

**Uncle Vernon certainly seemed to have got back his courage. He was glaring at Hagrid and his fists were clenched.**

**"Now, you listen here, boy," he snarled, "I accept there's something strange about you, probably nothing a good beating wouldn't have cured**

There were more growls along with some choice swearing from Sirius, Padfoot and surprisingly Harry in French.

— **and as for all this about your parents, well, they were weirdoes, no denying it, and the world's better off without them in my opinion**

"How dare he," Hermione said in a deadly voice.

— **asked for all they got, getting mixed up with these wizarding types — just what I expected, always knew they'd come to a sticky end -"**

There were several angry shouts before twenty dummies with Vernon's face appeared and everyone started cursing them, the remains vanishing and the dummy being replaced until everyone had calmed down, where the dummies vanished.

**But at that moment, Hagrid leapt from the sofa and drew a battered pink umbrella from inside his coat.**

**Pointing this at Uncle Vernon like a sword, he said, "I'm warning you, Dursley — I'm warning you — one more word…"**

"Do it Hagrid," muttered William, Charlus and Moody.

**In danger of being speared on the end of an umbrella by a bearded giant, Uncle Vernon's courage failed again; he flattened himself against the wall and fell silent.**

**"That's better," said Hagrid, breathing heavily and sitting back down on the sofa, which this time sagged right down to the floor.**

**Harry, meanwhile, still had questions to ask, hundreds of them.**

**"But what happened to Vol-, sorry — I mean, You-Know-Who?"**

"Good question," James said.

**"Good question, Harry. **

"You think like Hagrid," Sirius laughed as James blushed.

**Disappeared. Vanished. Same night he tried ter kill you. Makes yeh even more famous. That's the biggest myst'ry, see… he was gettin' more an' more powerful — why'd he go?**

**"Some say he died. Codswallop, in my opinion. Dunno if he had enough human left in him to die.**

"That's true," Harry muttered but only Remus and Moony caught it.

**Some say he's still out there, bidin' his time, like, but I don' believe it.**

The slytherins suddenly seemed uncomfortable.

**People who was on his side came back ter ours. Some of 'em came outta kinda trances. Don' reckon they could've done if he was comin' back.**

"Imperious curse," someone muttered.

**"Most of us reckon he's still out there somewhere but lost his powers. Too weak to carry on. 'Cause somethin' about you finished him, Harry.  
There was somethin' goin' on that night he hadn't counted on — I dunno what it was, no one does — but somethin' about you stumped him, all right."**

**Hagrid looked at Harry with warmth and respect blazing in his eyes, but Harry, instead of feeling pleased and proud, felt quite sure there had been a horrible mistake.**

**A wizard? Him? How could he possibly be? He'd spent his life being clouted by Dudley, and bullied by Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon; if he was really a wizard, why hadn't they been turned into warty toads every time they'd tried to lock him in his cupboard? If he'd once defeated the greatest sorcerer in the world, how come Dudley had always been able to kick him around like a football?**

"Doesn't work like that," someone said, Harry thought it was Bill.

**"Hagrid," he said quietly, "I think you must have made a mistake. I don't think I can be a wizard."**

**To his surprise, Hagrid chuckled.**

**"Not a wizard, eh? Never made things happen when you was scared or angry?"**

**Harry looked into the fire. Now he came to think about it… every odd thing that had ever made his** **aunt and uncle furious with him had happened when he, Harry, had been upset or angry… chased by Dudley's gang, he had somehow found himself out of their reach… dreading going to school with that ridiculous haircut, he'd managed to make it grow back… he could turn into a dog, that certainly wasn't normal… **

"No it isn't" Minerva said, looking at Harry with pride at his abilities.

**and the very last time Dudley had hit him, hadn't he got his revenge, without even realizing he was doing it? Hadn't he set a boa constrictor on him?**

**Harry looked back at Hagrid, smiling, and saw that Hagrid was positively beaming at him.**

**"See?" said Hagrid. "Harry Potter, not a wizard — you wait, you'll be right famous at Hogwarts."**

"Unfortunately," Harry said.

**But Uncle Vernon wasn't going to give in without a fight.**

"Just give up already,"

**"Haven't I told you he's not going?" he hissed. "He's going to Stonewall High and he'll be grateful for it.** **I've read those letters and he needs all sorts of rubbish — spell books and wands and —"**

**"If he wants ter go, a great Muggle like you won't stop him," growled Hagrid. "Stop Lily an' James Potter's son goin' ter Hogwarts! Yer mad. His name's been down ever since he was born.**

"Really?" Harry asked Dumbledore who nodded.

**He's off ter the finest school of witchcraft and wizardry in the world. Seven years there and he won't know himself. He'll be with youngsters of his own sort, fer a change, an' he'll be under the** **greatest headmaster Hogwarts ever had Albus Dumbled—"**

**"I AM NOT PAYING FOR SOME CRACKPOT OLD FOOL TO TEACH HIM MAGIC TRICKS!" yelled Uncle Vernon.**

"Uh oh, never insult Dumbledore in front of Hagrid," Regulus said his brother and his brother's friends nodding seriously.

**But he had finally gone too far. Hagrid seized his umbrella and whirled it over his head, "NEVER —" he thundered, "— INSULT — ALBUS — DUMBLEDORE — IN — FRONT — OF — ME!"  
He brought the umbrella swishing down through the air to point at Dudley — there was a flash of violet light, a sound like a firecracker, a sharp squeal,**

"What happened?" both Sirius and padfoot asked excitedly.

**and the next second, Dudley was dancing on the spot with his hands clasped over his fat bottom, howling in pain.**

Everyone leaned forwards in anticipation.

**When he turned his back on them, Harry saw a curly pig's tail poking through a hole in his trousers.**

Everyone howled with laughter, prongs, Sirius, the twins and Charlie fell from their seats and rolled around on the floor.

**Uncle Vernon roared. Pulling Aunt Petunia and Dudley into the other room, he cast one last terrified look at Hagrid and slammed the door behind them.**

**Hagrid looked down at his umbrella and stroked his beard.**

Sirius repeated the action on his own beard, to humorous effect

**"Shouldn'ta lost me temper," he said ruefully, "but it didn't work anyway. Meant ter turn him into a pig, but I suppose he was so much like a pig anyway there wasn't much left ter do."**

**He cast a sideways look at Harry under his bushy eyebrows.**

**"Be grateful if yeh didn't mention that ter anyone at Hogwarts," he said. "I'm — er — not supposed ter do magic, strictly speakin'. I was allowed ter do a bit ter follow yeh an' get yer letters to yeh an' stuff — one o' the reasons I was so keen ter take on the job."**

The teachers, minus Dumbledore, shook their heads fondly.

**"Why aren't you supposed to do magic?" asked Harry.**

**"Oh, well — I was at Hogwarts meself but I — er — got expelled, ter tell yeh the truth. In me third year. They snapped me wand in half an' everything. But Dumbledore let me stay on as gamekeeper. Great man, Dumbledore."**

"A 'Great Man' would not make James Potter head boy."

"Hey!"

**"Why were you expelled?"**

"He won't tell," Remus said.

Harry, Ron and Hermione gave him a knowing smile.

**"It's gettin' late and we've got lots ter do tomorrow," said Hagrid loudly. "Gotta get up ter town, get all yer books an' that."**

**He took off his thick black coat and threw it to Harry.**

**"You can kip under that," he said. "Don' mind if it wriggles a bit, I think I still got a couple o' doormice in one o' the pockets."**

"Why?" asked Alice.

"The owl probably," Harry replied.

"That's the end of the chapter," moony said holding up the book, "Who wants to read?"

"I will," prongs said before padfoot could speak, holding his hand out.

"Actually could we take a break? I promised an explaination after the chapter was done and I need the book," Harry said looking between the two boys and Dumbledore who agreed.

Harry took the book from moony as everyone else broke up and headed into their own groups of friends or family. Harry went back to his family before suggesting they went into one of the dorms. His parents, Sirius and Remus agreed. Harry then asked if Hermione could stay, he admitted he might need her for emotional support as he had to relive this once already. They agreed and went to the dorm while Harry went to talk to Hermione.

Hermione agreed to come and followed him to the dorm where Remus was waiting at the door.


	6. Chapter 6-Break 1

Philosopher's Stone

Break 1

Harry walked into the dorm, holding the door for Hermione and closing it when she passed him. Sirius and Remus applied several locking and privacy charms to the door before turning to Harry, who had sat on one of the beds with Hermione on his right and holding her hand.

Sirius and Remus took the opposite bed while Lily sat to Harry's left and James transfigured a chair into an armchair and placed it between the two beds.

Harry didn't know where to start, so he decided to begin with the lies Sirius and Remus called him on.

"You asked why I never mentioned that Petunia lied about mum and dad's deaths, as I said, it honestly never came up. After my first two years at Hogwarts, heck even after my first trip to Diagon Alley, they seemed so… petty… irrelevant. I felt they weren't worth mentioning as that chapter of my life was over," Harry said to Sirius and Remus, whose expression sharpened at the veiled implication but both nodded in understanding, Remus more than Sirius as he'd heard frightening rumours about Harry's first two years at Hogwarts when he was a teacher.

"That doesn't explain the lines about a wound on your back," James said, looking directly at his son.

"The book can explain that better than I can because it includes the day I received that injury and others," Harry said grimly, watching an unreadable expression fall on the marauders faces as his mother pulled him into a hug and Hermione squeezed his hand.

His parents agreed to start reading, and Remus took the book; the first chapter went smoothly being broken up by various insults to Vernon and several heartfelt defences of Lily and James, and finally a new appreciation for Hagrid and Minerva. Dumbledore however was on thin ice for how he handled their son/ godson/ godcub (Sirius came up with it to James and Harry's amusement).

The second chapter went as well as could be expected: Harry actually transfigured the bed he and Hermione were sitting on into a small pillbox when Lily jumped up and started throwing hexes everywhere at the mention of the cupboard. Needless to say, the marauders weren't happy the two teens had escaped the outburst unscathed. They were all astonished to learn of Harry's animagus ability, or how long he'd been capable of it for Sirius and Remus, and couldn't help but smile proudly after a quick demonstration of both his forms.  
James had a similar outburst to Lily's at the revealing of Dudley's bullying habits, favourite target and his in-laws failure to discipline the boy, the groups reactions were more or less the same as their younger counterparts until the end where Lily and Hermione both hugged him tightly, sandwiching him between them and leaving him with difficulty breathing for several minutes as they cried into his neck, Harry tried to comfort both as best he could.

His father, godfather and godwolf however simply stared in disbelief, all knowing they should be either tearing the room or the Dursleys apart but unable to move, barely able to comprehend the inhuman behaviour displayed by Harry's aunt and uncle. Remus realised Harry had likely had the room prevent them from reacting violently to keep them from doing something stupid, or provoke the wolf, but he needed to say something, he needed to see with his own eyes.

"Harry… can we see?" he asked, not knowing if he really _wanted_ the answer but knowing _he had to know._

Harry tensed, but nodded. He got up and turned around, facing the bed. Hermione stood in between him and the bed, "Its ok, I'm right here," she said comfortingly as Harry pulled his jumper off, Hermione took his tie off and put it on top of his jumper before loosening the top three buttons on his shirt. Harry hesitated as he gripped the hem of the shirt; Hermione placed her hands over his and pulled them upwards slowly as she stared unblinking into his eyes.

There was a collective gasp as the shirt reached halfway up his back and the sound of someone vomiting as it cleared his shoulders. He stood there for a moment, his hands on the curtain rail of the four poster bed, before Hermione slid her arms around his neck and hugged him, she buried her face into his neck, her eyes brimming with tears but they didn't spill over.

Lily, James, Remus and Sirius felt sick, Sirius was actually sick and vomited into a hastily conjured bucket, as the saw the scars on Harry's back. There were fourteen thin white lines crossing the middle of his back but there was a slight discolouration that hinted there had been more but were at least partly treated, and a great thick line of scar tissue in a near perfect curve arcing just above his shoulder blades.

Harry flinched as a hand touched his back and remained tense as it began tracing a pair of scars before they encircled his waist, a soft cheek resting on the left side of the back of his neck and long hair tickling his back as his mother hugged him and cried softly at the cruelty inflicted on her son. Hermione released Harry who turned around in his mother's grip to give her her first real hug from her son.

Harry rubbed his mother's back soothingly for a few moments until he saw Sirius curled up against the side of the opposite bed with his head in his hands and muttering despondently, his face contorted into a snarl as something inside him reared its head. He pulled away from his mother and strode over to the head of House Black.

"SIRIUS ORION BLACK!" Harry bellowed, making the aforementioned man jump off the floor along with James, Lily and Hermione while Remus tripped backwards over the bed clutching his ears. "On your feet! NOW!"

Sirius scrambled to his feet as James, Lily and Hermione backed away, bewildered and afraid.  
"What were you saying?" Harry asked, fixing the taller marauder with a glare McGonagall and Lily would be hard pressed to match.  
Sirius mumbled something, very afraid of his godson's temper (rumoured to be worse than Lily's or Dumbledore's), Harry however either couldn't hear his answer or didn't like it either way.  
"Could you repeat that?"  
"I said, it's my fault, I should have been there, I shouldn't have gone after the rat," Sirius repeated quietly, surprising Lily and James who didn't actually know the details of why Sirius and Remus had only recently re-entered Harry's life and there being no sign of Peter (it's only a few hours since they died to them so they can't be sure he gave them up or just broke under torture).

"How is it your fault?" Harry asked accusingly, making Sirius flinch at his tone. "How is it your fault the rat outsmarted you? How is it your fault Crouch Senior made himself judge, jury and executioner? How is it your fault no one noticed he was emotionally compromised and should have been pulled from duty?" Harry's voice rose as each statement came, frustrated that nothing he'd said in the past year had penetrated the guilt ridden marauders thick skull.

"Half a second either way would have changed history, Sirius, that rat outsmarted you, your only fault is that you underestimated him," Harry continued, spotting the tiny glint of realisation in Sirius' eye.

Harry took a step closer, "Did you raise a hand to me? Did you take a leather belt to my back? Did you stuff me in a tiny cupboard because of who my parents were? (Lily and James flinched violently at the reminder) Did you sit back and laugh as a bulldog chased me, bit me, forced me to stay up a tree for six hours?" Harry continued, everyone gasped in horror at that revelation. "No, you didn't. You weren't there because narrow minded people broke procedure and failed to uphold the law. In Remus' case they followed the law to the letter and wrote new more restrictive ones." Lily and James gasped again, turning to Remus who hung his head.

"You were dealt a bad hand in life, just like me, but we haven't lost altogether just yet," Harry winked at Sirius as he finished who smiled slightly and nodded.

The others watched for a moment as Harry put his shirt and tie back on and Sirius looked as though a great burden had been taken from him. When he had finished, Harry gave Remus a similar speech but Remus was the more level headed of the two and had long accepted that it had always been outside his control. James had then hugged his son and apologised for not being there for him, Harry told him it wasn't his fault and that only voldywart was to blame.

Sirius and Remus laughed as James stared at Harry, Lily however incredulously said "Voldywart? Really?" she didn't quite believe that both her husband and her son mocked Voldemort's name the same way.

Harry gestured for them to settle down as they stopped laughing.

The third and final chapter went a little better, again their reactions were largely like their younger selves except when the mention of _'stamping out the freakishness'_ and the large cut across his back. Several target dummies with Vernon's face appeared and were quickly destroyed both times.

James was glad his son had inherited his sense of mischief; Lily was annoyed by that same point but also a little happy that he seemed to have inherited a few things from her, including her cheek and apparently her temper.  
Sirius and Remus burst out laughing at the way Harry's plan backfired, just like James' used to.  
Lily and James were surprised and very touched to hear about Harry's ritual for their anniversary and both hugged him tight for over a minute.

They soon finished that chapter and after a minute to calm down they left the dorm and returned to the main room. They found nearly everyone else at the long table which was now piled with food much like the house tables in the great hall. Ron pointed to a series of seats next to him left for them before turning back to his, rather large, meal.  
They all sat down and began adding food to their plates, soon joining in the conversations around the table. Lily, James, Sirius and Remus learned a lot about Harry during the meal but not everything, some things were left out as a surprise.

They returned to their seats after they finished eating, a few jokes were made as everyone got comfortable and Prongs picked up the book. He turned to the correct chapter before he started reading.

"**Chapter-five, Diagon Alley" **Prongs read.


	7. Chapter 7-Diagon Alley

Diagon Alley

**"DIAGON ALLEY"** Prongs read.

All the elder Potter couples smiled sadly, it should be Lily and James who take him the first time.

"It's great the first time isn't it? It makes it all real," Hermione said wistfully, Harry, Lily and Evans nodded.

"Yeah, it does," Harry agreed, smiling at his girlfriend.

**Harry woke early the next morning. Although he could tell it was daylight, he kept his eyes shut tight.**

**"It was a dream," he told himself firmly. "I dreamed a giant called Hagrid came to tell me I was going to a school for wizards. When I open my eyes I'll be at home in my cupboard."**

"Wow, I can't imagine my life being so bad that I think the first happy thing in it is a dream afterward," Regulus said softly, nearly everyone, even both Sirius', agreed.

**There was suddenly a loud tapping noise.**

"Huh"

**And there's Aunt Petunia knocking on the door, Harry thought, his heart sinking. But he still didn't open his eyes. It had been such a good dream.**

"It wasn't a dream Harry, just open your eyes," Evans said.

**Tap. Tap. Tap.**

**"All right," Harry mumbled, "I'm getting up."**

**He sat up and Hagrid's heavy coat fell off him. The hut was full of sunlight, the storm was over, Hagrid himself was asleep on the collapsed sofa, and there was an owl rapping its claw on the window, a newspaper held in its beak.**

"Ah, a Prophet owl" Remus said.

**Harry scrambled to his feet, so happy he felt as though a large balloon was swelling inside him.**

The twins shared a look and scribbled a note in their new notebook.

**He went straight to the window and jerked it open. The owl swooped in and dropped the newspaper on top of Hagrid, who didn't wake up. The owl then fluttered onto the floor and began to attack Hagrid's coat.**

"He wants payment, end of July right? Probably next month's subscription," Frank said

**"Don't do that."**

**Harry tried to wave the owl out of the way, but it snapped its beak fiercely at him and carried on savaging the coat.**

"Those things are bloody vicious," Charlie said earning a number of agreeing nods before his mother realised what he said.

"Charles!"

**"Hagrid!" said Harry loudly. "There's an owl**

**"Pay him," Hagrid grunted into the sofa.**

"Harry doesn't know our currency," Charlus said.

"Which is probably why Hagrid is doing this," Dorea replied.

**"What?"**

**"He wants payin' fer deliverin' the paper. Look in the pockets." Hagrid's coat seemed to be made of nothing but pockets - bunches of keys, slug pellets, balls of string, peppermint humbugs, teabags**

"That's a lot of pockets" Ron stated.

**... finally, Harry pulled out a handful of strange-looking coins.**

**"Give him five Knuts," said Hagrid sleepily.**

**"Knuts?"**

"The little bronze ones," Lavender said.

**"The little bronze ones."**

Lavender blushed as everyone laughed.

**Harry counted out five little bronze coins, and the owl held out his leg so Harry could put the money into a small leather pouch tied to it. Then he flew off through the open window.**

**Hagrid yawned loudly, sat up, and stretched.**

**"Best be Off, Harry, lots ter do today, gotta get up ter London an' buy all yer stuff fer school."**

**Harry was turning over the wizard coins and looking at them. He had just thought of something that made him feel as though the happy balloon inside him had got a puncture.**

"No, not the happy balloon," the twins cried before hugging each other and fake sobbing as everyone but their mother laughed.

**"Um - Hagrid?"**

**"Mm?" said Hagrid, who was pulling on his huge boots.**

**"I haven't got any money**

"Did you honestly think we didn't leave you anything?" Lily asked Harry.

Harry shrugged "you've seen how I grew up, I didn't know any better and I highly doubt Vernon wouldn't have tried to take it if he knew about it,"

Everyone scowled but knew it was likely true.

**- and you heard Uncle Vernon last night ... he won't pay for me to go and learn magic."**

**"Don't worry about that," said Hagrid, standing up and scratching his head. "D'yeh think yer parents didn't leave yeh anything?"**

**"But if their house was destroyed -"**

"We don't keep our gold in our houses. Well, we did but we were expecting to need to quickly move at any time," James explained.

"I know, I found the stash in third year when I visited the cottage," Harry explained, earning frowns from Snape, Minerva, Remus, Arthur and Molly.

**"They didn' keep their gold in the house, boy! Nah, first stop fer us is Gringotts. Wizards' bank. Have a sausage, they're not bad cold - an' I wouldn' say no teh a bit o' yer birthday cake, neither."**

**"Wizards have banks?"**

**"Just the one. Gringotts. Run by goblins."**

**Harry dropped the bit of sausage he was holding.**

"That was my reaction too," said several people.

**"Goblins?"**

**"Yeah - so yeh'd be mad ter try an' rob it,**

"Ten galleons says that someone in the books tries it," Padfoot said, looking around. He pouted when no one took the bet.

**I'll tell yeh that. Never mess with goblins,**

**Harry. Gringotts is the safest place in the world fer anything yeh want ter keep safe - 'cept maybe Hogwarts. **

"No," Harry, Hermione, Ron and Neville said as Minerva and Snape frowned.

Everyone stared curiously at them but they didn't elaborate.

**As a matter o' fact, I gotta visit Gringotts anyway. Fer Dumbledore. Hogwarts business." Hagrid drew himself up proudly. "He usually gets me ter do important stuff fer him. Fetchin' you gettin' things from Gringotts - knows he can trust me, see.**

Remus, Sirius, Molly, Arthur, Snape and Minerva groaned.

"Hagrid, you don't say something like that to the child of Lily and James Potter, or have you forgotten how bad they could be at school," Remus moaned, making both Lily's and James' blush and Harry huff in annoyance.

**"Got everythin'? Come on, then."**

**Harry followed Hagrid out onto the rock. The sky was quite clear now and the sea gleamed in the sunlight. The boat Uncle Vernon had hired was still there, with a lot of water in the bottom after the storm.**

**"How did you get here?" Harry asked, looking around for another boat. "Flew," said Hagrid.**

"Flew?" Narcissa asked.

**"Flew?"**

Narcissa blushed as everyone chuckled.

Harry now thought Hagrid had arrived on a Thestral.

Hermione however suddenly started laughing uncontrollably.

Harry had to hold her around her waist to keep her from failing out of her seat as everyone stared at her, "Hermione what is it?"

As she got her laughter under control, she held her hand up as if holding an umbrella.

Nearly every half-blood and muggleborn and Remus started laughing to everyone else's confusion.

"There's a character in a muggle film called Mary Poppins who uses an umbrella to fly when the character is introduced," Severus explained.

**"Yeah - but we'll go back in this. Not s'pposed ter use magic now I've got yeh."**

**They settled down in the boat, Harry still staring at Hagrid, trying to imagine him flying.**

**"Seems a shame ter row, though," said Hagrid, giving Harry another of his sideways looks. "If I was ter - er - speed things up a bit, would yeh mind not mentionin' it at Hogwarts?"**

"Hagrid!" Lily, Evans, McGonagall, Minerva, Dorea and Molly scolded.

**"Of course not," said Harry, eager to see more magic.**

Hermione shook her head fondly at her boyfriend.

**Hagrid pulled out the pink umbrella again, tapped it twice on the side of the boat, and they sped off toward land.**

"How did they get back?" Hermione asked, that point had never been explained.

"Flagged down the coast guard I think, I was more concerned about my bleeding ears than the details of his rant the following summer," Harry explained, making everyone wince then scowl, Lily even performed a diagnostic charm to check for permanent damage.

**"Why would you be mad to try and rob Gringotts?" Harry asked.**

"Goblins are – unforgiving, to thieves," Bill explained.

**"Spells - enchantments," said Hagrid, unfolding his newspaper as he spoke. **

**"They say there's dragons guardin' the high security vaults.**

Charlie shot his brother an accusatory look, but Bill shrugged with an expression that said _'it's above my pay grade'._

**And then yeh gotta find yer way - Gringotts is hundreds of miles under London, see. Deep under the Underground. Yeh'd die of hunger tryin' ter get out,even if yeh did manage ter get yer hands on summat."**

"Not necessarily," Harry muttered darkly, Ron, Hermione and Neville gave a small nod as the nearby adults and Weasleys looked at them curiously.

**Harry sat and thought about this while Hagrid read his newspaper, the Daily Prophet. Harry had learned from Uncle Vernon that people liked to be left alone while they did this, but it was very difficult, he'd never had so many questions in his life.**

"Hagrid wouldn't have minded," Charlie said.

"I know that now," Harry replied.

**"Ministry o' Magic messin' things up as usual," Hagrid muttered, turning the page.**

"What else is new," Ron, Ginny, Neville, Lavender and Charlie said.

**"There's a Ministry of Magic?" Harry asked, before he could stop himself.**

**"'Course," said Hagrid. "They wanted Dumbledore fer Minister,**

"Sometimes those best suited for authority are those who do not seek it," Harry said thoughtfully.

The Dumbledore present nodded in agreement.

**O' course, but he'd never leave Hogwarts, so old Cornelius Fudge got the job. Bungler if ever there was one.**

"Preaching to the choir there," Ron muttered.

"Cornelius Fudge? That Hufflepuff who was in fifth when we were firsties?" Padfoot asked, shaking his head as his counterpart nodded.

**So he pelts Dumbledore with owls every morning, askin' fer advice."**

**"But what does a Ministry of Magic do?"**

"Keep our world from muggles and try to keep the peace," William said.

**"Well, their main job is to keep it from the Muggles that there's still witches an' wizards up an' down the country."**

**"Why?"**

"In case they start a witch hunt again and because we don't want the muggles to rely on us," Charlus said.

**"Why? Blimey, Harry, everyone'd be wantin' magic solutions to their problems. Nah, we're best left alone."**

**At this moment the boat bumped gently into the harbor wall. Hagrid folded up his newspaper, and they clambered up the stone steps onto the street.**

**Passersby stared a lot at Hagrid as they walked through the little town to the station. Harry couldn't blame them. Not only was Hagrid twice as tall as anyone else, he kept pointing at perfectly ordinary things like parking meters and saying loudly, "See that, Harry? Things these Muggles dream up, eh?"**

"Hagrid" Minerva said exasperated.

"It's not easy for Hagrid to blend in in the muggle world, Professor," Harry replied evenly. Minerva nodded in agreement

**"Hagrid," said Harry, panting a bit as he ran to keep up, "did you say there are dragons at Gringotts?"**

"Better not be," Charlie muttered angrily.

**"Well, so they say," said Hagrid. "Crikey, I'd like a dragon."**

**"You'd like one?"**

Harry, Ron, Hermione and Neville exchanged a look that didn't go unnoticed by Lily, James, Remus, Sirius or Minerva. They all hoped Hagrid hadn't got a dragon.

**"Wanted one ever since I was a kid - here we go."**

**They had reached the station. There was a train to London in five minutes' time. Hagrid, who didn't understand "Muggle money," as he called it, gave the bills to Harry so he could buy their tickets.**

**People stared more than ever on the train. Hagrid took up two seats and sat knitting what looked like a canary-yellow circus tent.**

"What was that?" Ginny asked.

"Blanket for Fang I think, there was a yellow one in his basket when we first visited," Harry replied.

**"Still got yer letter, Harry?" he asked as he counted stitches. Harry took the parchment envelope out of his pocket.**

**"Good," said Hagrid. "There's a list there of everything yeh need."**

**Harry unfolded a second piece of paper he hadn't noticed the night before, and read:**

_**HOGWARTS SCHOOL of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY**_

_**UNIFORM**_

_**First-year students will require:**_

_**1. Three sets of plain work robes (black)**_

_**2. One plain pointed hat (black) for day wear**_

"Why we never wear it?" Sirius asked.

"I found a use for it in charms," Harry replied as Minerva opened her mouth to answer.

_**3. One pair of protective gloves (dragon hide or similar)**_

_**4. One winter cloak (black, silver fastenings)**_

"I got a coat too," Harry said, Hermione and Remus nodded in agreement.

_**Please note that all pupils' clothes should carry name tags**_

"Never understood that," Padfoot muttered.

Tonks blushed as Harry smirked at her

_**COURSE BOOKS**_

_**All students should have a copy of each of the following:**_

_**The Standard Book of Spells (Grade 1) by Miranda Goshawk**_

_**A History of Magic by Bathilda Bagshot**_

_**Magical Theory by Adalbert Waffling**_

_**A Beginners' Guide to Transfiguration by Emetic Switch**_

_**One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi by Phyllida Spore**_

_**Magical Drafts and Potions by Arsenius Jigger**_

_**Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by Newt Scamander**_

_**The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection by Quentin Trimble**_

"Only the darks arts book is different," Frank commented.

"Hang on, the Potions theory and ingredients reactions texts are missing," Prongs exclaimed, his friends seemed surprised that _HE_ picked that up.

Minerva scowled at Snape, who suddenly looked rather uncomfortable as the older marauders and Lily glared at him.

_**OTHER EQUIPMENT**_

_**Wand,**_

_**Cauldron (pewter, standard size 2) **_

_**Set of glass or crystal phials**_

_**Telescope, **_

_**Set of brass scales**_

_**Students may also bring an owl OR a cat OR a toad**_

_**PARENTS ARE REMINDED THAT FIRST YEARS ARE NOT ALLOWED THEIR OWN BROOMSTICKS**_

"I hate that rule," Prongs, and James muttered as their friends and girlfriend/wife smiled fondly.

Harry and his friends fought hard to keep their faces neutral.

**"Can we buy all this in London?" Harry wondered aloud.**

**"If yeh know where to go," said Hagrid.**

**Harry had never been to London before.**

Everyone muttered angrily about the Dursleys.

**Although Hagrid seemed to know where he was going, he was obviously not used to getting there in an ordinary way. He got stuck in the ticket barrier on the Underground, and complained loudly that the seats were too small and the trains too slow.**

**"I don't know how the Muggles manage without magic," **

"They have never had it, besides, they've learnt to compensate for that limitation mostly," Hermione said.

**he said as they climbed a broken-down escalator that led up to a bustling road lined with shops.**

**Hagrid was so huge that he parted the crowd easily; all Harry had to do was keep close behind him. They passed book shops and music stores, hamburger restaurants and cinemas,**

**but nowhere that looked as if it could sell you a magic wand. This was just an ordinary street full of ordinary people. Could there really be piles of wizard gold buried miles beneath them? Were there really shops that sold spell books and broomsticks? Might this not all be some huge joke that the Dursleys had cooked up?**

"Harry, we've already had this conversation…" Fred began.

"…you need imagination to make a joke," George continued.

"And they have none," They finished.

**If Harry hadn't known that the Dursleys had no sense of humor, he might have thought so; yet somehow, even though everything Hagrid had told him so far was unbelievable, Harry couldn't help trusting him.**

**"This is it," said Hagrid, coming to a halt, "the Leaky Cauldron. It's a famous place."**

**It was a tiny, grubby-looking pub. If Hagrid hadn't pointed it out, Harry wouldn't have noticed it was there. The people hurrying by didn't glance at it. Their eyes slid from the big book shop on one side to the record shop on the other as if they couldn't see the Leaky Cauldron at all. In fact, Harry had the most peculiar feeling that only he and Hagrid could see it.**

"I thought the same thing," Hermione, Lily and Evans said in unison before staring at each other.

Harry, Prongs and James exchanged a look.

**Before he could mention this, Hagrid had steered him inside.**

**For a famous place, it was very dark and shabby. A few old women were sitting in a corner, drinking tiny glasses of sherry. One of them was smoking a long pipe. A little man in a top hat was talking to the old bartender, who was quite bald and looked like a toothless walnut. The low buzz of chatter quietened when they walked in.  
Everyone seemed to know Hagrid; they waved and smiled at him, and the bartender reached for a glass, saying, "The usual, Hagrid?"**

"Think he's a regular," Regulus joked.

**"Can't, Tom, I'm on Hogwarts business," said Hagrid, clapping his great hand on Harry's shoulder and making Harry's knees buckle.**

"Hagrid please be careful," Lily said.

**"Good Lord," said the bartender, peering at Harry, "is this - can this be -?"**

**The Leaky Cauldron had suddenly gone completely still and silent.**

Regulus and Padfoot whistled, "That's an achievement."

**"Bless my soul," whispered the old bartender, "Harry Potter... what an honor."**

**He hurried out from behind the bar, rushed toward Harry and seized his hand, tears in his eyes.**

**"Welcome back, Mr. Potter, welcome back."**

"Did I go somewhere?" Harry joked, earning a few smiles.

**Harry didn't know what to say. Everyone was looking at him. The old woman with the pipe was puffing on it without realizing it had gone out. Hagrid was beaming.**

**Then there was a great scraping of chairs and the next moment, Harry found himself shaking hands with everyone in the Leaky Cauldron.**

"Wow, you really are famous," Lucius.

"And you hate every minute of it," Hermione teased as Harry looked at the floor.

"It was mum that stopped him, not me," Harry mumbled, Lily and James gave him a smile.

**"Doris Crockford, Mr. Potter, can't believe I'm meeting you at last."**

**"So proud, Mr. Potter, I'm just so proud."**

**"Always wanted to shake your hand - I'm all of a flutter."**

**"Delighted, Mr. Potter, just can't tell you, Diggle's the name, Dedalus Diggle."**

**"I've seen you before!" said Harry, as Dedalus Diggle's top hat fell off in his excitement. "You bowed to me once in a shop."**

"That'll make his day," Remus said.

**"He remembers!" cried Dedalus Diggle, looking around at everyone. "Did you hear that? He remembers me!" Harry shook hands again and again - Doris Crockford kept coming back for more.**

**A pale young man made his way forward, very nervously. One of his eyes was twitching.**

**"Professor Quirrell!" said Hagrid. "Harry, Professor Quirrell will be one of your teachers at Hogwarts."**

Harry, his friends and the twins scowled at the mention of their old DADA Professor to nearly everyone else's confusion.

**"P-P-Potter," stammered Professor Quirrell, grasping Harry's hand, "c-can't t-tell you how p- pleased I am to meet you."**

Harry's friends scowled, as Harry rubbed his throat subconsciously, making Lily, James, Sirius and Remus look at him in concern.

**"What sort of magic do you teach, Professor Quirrell?"**

Everyone who hadn't reacted to the man's name seemed to want to know.

**"D-Defense Against the D-D-Dark Arts," muttered Professor Quirrell, as though he'd rather not think about it. "N-not that you n-need it, eh, P-P-Potter?"**

"How can he teach if he's afraid of the subject?" Alice asked.

"He couldn't" Harry explained as Ron muttered, "That stutter was so annoying."

**He laughed nervously. "You'll be g-getting all your equipment, I suppose? I've g-got to p-pick up a new b-book on vampires, m-myself."**

**He looked terrified at the very thought.**

**But the others wouldn't let Professor Quirrell keep Harry to himself. It took almost ten minutes to get away from them all. At last, Hagrid managed to make himself heard over the babble.**

**"Must get on - lots ter buy. Come on, Harry."**

**Doris Crockford shook Harry's hand one last time, and Hagrid led them through the bar and out into a small, walled courtyard, where there was nothing but a dustbin and a few weeds.**

**Hagrid grinned at Harry.**

**"Told yeh, didn't I? Told yeh you was famous. Even Professor Quirrell was tremblin' ter meet yeh - mind you, he's usually tremblin'."**

**"Is he always that nervous?**

"Not always," Harry muttered darkly. His parents, Sirius and Remus looked at him but he didn't explain.

**"Oh, yeah. Poor bloke. Brilliant mind. He was fine while he was studyin' outta books but then he took a year off ter get some firsthand experience... They say he met vampires in the Black Forest, and there was a nasty bit o' trouble with a hag - never been the same since. Scared of the students, scared of his own subject now, where's me umbrella?"**

**Vampires? Hags? Harry's head was swimming.**

"I was like that too" Hermione said, cuddling up to Harry again.

**Hagrid, meanwhile, was counting bricks in the wall above the dustbin.**

"Always wanted to move that dustbin," James said thoughtfully.

"Why?" Lily asked.

"You count the bricks from the dustbin," he explained.

"The right brick is marked," Harry pointed out, making his father sigh in defeat.

**"Three up... two across," he muttered. "Right, stand back, Harry."**

**He tapped the wall three times with the point of his umbrella.**

**The brick he had touched quivered – then moved – the other bricks started rearranging themselves before their eyes, until a second later they were facing an archway large enough even for Hagrid, an archway onto a cobbled street that twisted and turned out of sight.**

**"Welcome," said Hagrid, "to Diagon Alley."**

Lily and James smiled sadly at Harry, who smiled back and held his mother's hand for a moment, it should have been them with him not Hagrid.

**He grinned at Harry's amazement. They stepped through the archway. Harry looked quickly over his shoulder and saw the archway shrink instantly back into solid wall.**

**The sun shone brightly on a stack of cauldrons outside the nearest shop. Cauldrons - All Sizes - Copper, Brass, Pewter, Silver - Self-Stirring - Collapsible, said a sign hanging over them.**

"Don't get collapsible," Remus and Moony exclaimed.

"So it wasn't your atrocious Potions skill that kept flooding the classroom," Sirius teased as both went red as everyone laughed.

**"Yeah, you'll be needin' one," said Hagrid, "but we gotta get yer money first."**

**Harry wished he had about eight more eyes. **

Ron shivered, "The same as a spider," he thought.

**He turned his head in every direction as they walked up the street, trying to look at everything at once: the shops, the things outside them, the people doing their shopping. A plump woman outside an Apothecary was shaking her head as they passed, saying, "Dragon liver, seventeen Sickles an ounce, they're mad..."**

Molly went red as her children looked at her; it seemed they were in the Alley that day.

**A low, soft hooting came from a dark shop with a sign saying Eeylops Owl Emporium - Tawny, Screech, Barn, Brown, and Snowy.**

**Several boys of about Harry's age had their noses pressed against a window with broomsticks in it. "Look," Harry heard one of them say, "the new Nimbus Two Thousand - fastest ever -"**

Sirius, James, Padfoot and Prongs nearly started drooling at the mention of the Nimbus (the current model was the 1550).

**There were shops selling robes, shops selling telescopes and strange silver instruments Harry had never seen before, windows stacked with barrels of bat spleens and eels' eyes, tottering piles of spell books, quills, and rolls of parchment, potion bottles, globes of the moon...**

"They're useful," Frank muttered.

**"Gringotts," said Hagrid.**

**They had reached a snowy white building that towered over the other little shops. Standing beside its burnished bronze doors, wearing a uniform of scarlet and gold, was -**

**"Yeah, that's a goblin," said Hagrid quietly as they walked up the white stone steps toward him. The goblin was about a head shorter than Harry. He had a swarthy, clever face, a pointed beard and, Harry noticed, very long fingers and feet. He bowed as they walked inside. Now they were facing a second pair of doors, silver this time, with words engraved upon them:**

_**Enter, stranger, but take heed**_

_**Of what awaits the sin of greed,**_

_**For those who take, but do not earn,**_

_**Must pay most dearly in their turn.**_

_**So if you seek beneath our floors**_

_**A treasure that was never yours,**_

_**Thief, you have been warned, beware**_

_**Of finding more than treasure there.**_

"I've always liked that poem," Lily, Evans and Hermione said thoughtfully.

**"Like I said, Yeh'd be mad ter try an' rob it," said Hagrid.**

**A pair of goblins bowed them through the silver doors and they were in a vast marble hall. About a hundred more goblins were sitting on high stools behind a long counter, scribbling in large ledgers, weighing coins in brass scales, examining precious stones through eyeglasses. There were too many doors to count leading off the hall, and yet more goblins were showing people in and out of these. Hagrid and Harry made for the counter.**

**"Morning," said Hagrid to a free goblin. "We've come ter take some money outta Mr. Harry Potter's safe."**

**"You have his key, Sir?"**

**"Got it here somewhere," said Hagrid, and he started emptying his pockets onto the counter, scattering a handful of moldy dog biscuits over the goblin's book of numbers.**

"He won't like that," Bill said.

**The goblin wrinkled his nose. **

"See,"

"No one disagreed."

**Harry watched the goblin on their right weighing a pile of rubies as big as glowing coals.**

"What are those used for?" Ron asked, knowing he'd heard of a magical use for large gems.

"Ward stones, some potions and Alchemy," Harry answered with Snape, Minerva and Dumbledore nodding in agreement.

**"Got it," said Hagrid at last, holding up a tiny golden key.**

**The goblin looked at it closely.**

**"That seems to be in order."**

**"An' I've also got a letter here from Professor Dumbledore," said Hagrid importantly, throwing out his chest. "It's about the You-Know-What in vault seven hundred and thirteen."**

"What did I say about saying that in front of Harry," Minerva moaned as Snape, Sirius and Remus groaned.

**The goblin read the letter carefully.**

**"Very well," he said, handing it back to Hagrid, "I will have Someone take you down to both vaults. Griphook!"**

**Griphook was yet another goblin. Once Hagrid had crammed all the dog biscuits back inside his pockets, he and Harry followed Griphook toward one of the doors leading off the hall.**

**"What's the You-Know-What in vault seven hundred and thirteen?" Harry asked.**

**"Can't tell yeh that," said Hagrid mysteriously. "Very secret. Hogwarts business. Dumbledore's trusted me. More'n my job's worth ter tell yeh that."**

"Don't make it worse," Sirius groaned, Harry gave him a look.

"Since when are you mature?" he asked, making everyone laugh as Sirius pouted.

**Griphook held the door open for them. Harry, who had expected more marble, was surprised. They were in a narrow stone passageway lit with flaming torches. It sloped steeply downward and there were little railway tracks on the floor. Griphook whistled and a small cart came hurtling up the tracks toward them. They climbed in - Hagrid with some difficulty - and were off.**

**At first they just hurtled through a maze of twisting passages. Harry tried to remember, left, right, right, left, middle fork, right, left, but it was impossible.**

"Wow, that's pretty good Harry, most only remember three turns," Bill said impressed.

**The rattling cart seemed to know its own way, because Griphook wasn't steering.**

**Harry's eyes stung as the cold air rushed past them, but he kept them wide open. Once, he thought he saw a burst of fire at the end of a passage and twisted around to see if it was a dragon, but too late - - they plunged even deeper, passing an underground lake where huge stalactites and stalagmites grew from the ceiling and floor.**

**I never know," Harry called to Hagrid over the noise of the cart, "what's the difference between a stalagmite and a stalactite?"**

Hermione, Lily and Evans opened their mouths to answer but Harry cut them off, "I liked Hagrid's answer better."

**"Stalagmite's got an 'm' in it,"**

The Three huffed in annoyance, Harry smiled at Hermione's cute pout and kissed her on the cheek making her blush as red as her hair.

**said Hagrid. "An' don' ask me questions just now, I think I'm gonna be sick."**

**He did look very green, and when the cart stopped at last beside a small door in the passage wall, Hagrid got out and had to lean against the wall to stop his knees from trembling.**

**Griphook unlocked the door. A lot of green smoke came billowing out, and as it cleared, Harry gasped. Inside were mounds of gold coins. Columns of silver. Heaps of little bronze Knuts.**

**"All yours," smiled Hagrid.**

"Not exactly, that's your trust vault," James explained, surprising Hermione and the Weasley's.

"I know, I asked about my inheritance before third year," Harry said.

**All Harry's - it was incredible. The Dursleys couldn't have known about this or they'd have had it from him faster than blinking.**

Everyone growled loudly at that, Hermione and a few others were fingering their wands, itching to curse the Dursleys.

**How often had they complained how much Harry cost them to keep?**

"What cost? They cut every corner possible, it's Dudley that's costing them," Hermione snapped furiously. Harry pulled her into a tight hug and whispered into her ear to calm her down.

**And all the time there had been a small fortune belonging to him, buried deep under London.**

**Hagrid helped Harry pile some of it into a bag.**

**"The gold ones are Galleons," he explained. "Seventeen silver Sickles to a Galleon and twenty-nine Knuts to a Sickle, it's easy enough. **

"How is that easy? The increments are completely different?" Hermione exclaimed, Both Snape's, Lily, Evans and Tonks nodded in agreement.

"It was probably easier before decimalisation, you know? 12 pence to a shilling, 20 shillings to a pound, it has only been 24 years after all," Harry explained.

**Right, that should be enough fer a couple o' terms, we'll keep the rest safe for yeh." He turned to Griphook. "Vault seven hundred and thirteen now, please, and can we go more slowly?"**

**"One speed only," said Griphook.**

**They were going even deeper now and gathering speed. **

"If it's one speed, how does it accelerate?" Ron asked.

"Gravity," Harry answered.

**The air became colder and colder as they hurtled round tight corners. They went rattling over an underground ravine, and Harry leaned over the side to try to see what was down at the dark bottom,**

"Do you have a death wish?" Hermione shrieked, twisting around in Harry's arms to look him in the eye.

"No, but my sense of self-preservation is stunted," Harry admitted, to his parents, Sirius and Remus' horror.

**but Hagrid groaned and pulled him back by the scruff of his neck.**

**Vault seven hundred and thirteen had no keyhole.**

"Old vault, Maximum Security too," Bill whistled.

**"Stand back," said Griphook importantly. He stroked the door gently with one of his long fingers and it simply melted away.**

"Cool," The twins shouted.

**"If anyone but a Gringotts goblin tried that, they'd be sucked through the door and trapped in there," said Griphook.**

**"How often do you check to see if anyone's inside?" Harry asked.**

**"About once every ten years," said Griphook with a rather nasty grin.**

"Never got goblin humour," Bill grimaced.

**Something really extraordinary had to be inside this top security vault, Harry was sure, and he leaned forward eagerly, expecting to see fabulous jewels at the very least - but at first he thought it was empty. Then he noticed a grubby little package wrapped up in brown paper lying on the floor. Hagrid picked it up and tucked it deep inside his coat. Harry longed to know what it was, but knew better than to ask.**

Snape shot Harry a look that said 'Really?'

**"Come on, back in this infernal cart, and don't talk to me on the way back, it's best if I keep me mouth shut," said Hagrid.**

**One wild cart ride later they stood blinking in the sunlight outside Gringotts. Harry didn't know where to run first now that he had a bag full of money. He didn't have to know how many Galleons there were to a pound to know that he was holding more money than he'd had in his whole life - more money than even Dudley had ever had.**

**"Might as well get yer uniform," said Hagrid, nodding toward Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions. "Listen, Harry, would yeh mind if I slipped off fer a pick-me-up in the Leaky Cauldron?**

"Hagrid!" Lily and Molly scolded, both for the drinking and for leaving Harry alone.

**I hate them Gringotts carts." He did still look a bit sick, so Harry entered Madam Malkin's shop alone, feeling nervous.**

**Madam Malkin was a squat, smiling witch dressed all in mauve.**

**"Hogwarts, clear?" she said, when Harry started to speak. "Got the lot here - another young man being fitted up just now, in fact."**

"Oh good, you can make a friend," Lily said, missing the significant look shared by Harry and his friends.

**In the back of the shop, a boy with a pale, pointed face was standing on a footstool while a second witch pinned up his long black robes.**

Everyone looked at Lucius and Narcissa.

Ron however said, "Enter Ferret, stage left," making his friends and the twins laugh.

**Madam Malkin stood Harry on a stool next to him) slipped a long robe over his head, and began to pin it to the right length.**

**"Hello," said the boy, "Hogwarts, too?"**

**"Yes," said Harry.**

**"My father's next door buying my books and mother's up the street looking at wands," **

"Pointless, 'the wand chooses the wizard' remember," Severus said.

**said the boy. He had a bored, drawling voice.**

**"Then I'm going to drag them off to look at racing brooms. I don't see why first years can't have their own.**

"Me too," Prongs, Padfoot, James, Sirius, Lucius, Regulus, Charlie, Fred and George agreed.

Harry and his friends were trying really hard not to smirk now.

**I think I'll bully father into getting me one and I'll smuggle it in somehow."**

**Harry was strongly reminded of Dudley.**

"I wonder how he'd react to that?" Harry said thoughtfully.

**"Have you got your own broom?" the boy went on.**

**"No," said Harry.**

**"Play Quidditch at all?"**

**"No," Harry said again, wondering what on earth Quidditch could be.**

James looked like he'd been kicked in the nuts while Prongs fainted, both Lily and Evans giggled as Sirius, Padfoot and Remus laughed and Moony tried to revive Prongs.

It took a couple of minutes to wake Prongs up, and he spent the next ten mumbling incoherently, before he was able to continue reading.

**"I do - Father says it's a crime if I'm not picked to play for my house, and I must say, I agree. Know what house you'll be in yet?"**

"No one knows, its tradition," Regulus said.

**"No," said Harry, feeling more stupid by the minute.**

"You're not stupid Harry," Hermione said gently.

**"Well, no one really knows until they get there, do they, but I know I'll be in Slytherin, all our family have been - imagine being in Hufflepuff, I think I'd leave,**

"Oi!" Tonks exclaimed.

**wouldn't you?"**

**"Mmm," said Harry, wishing he could say something a bit more interesting.**

**"I say, look at that man!" said the boy suddenly, nodding toward the front window. Hagrid was standing there, grinning at Harry and pointing at two large ice creams to show he couldn't come in.**

Sirius, Padfoot and Ron's stomachs rumbled again.

**"That's Hagrid," said Harry, pleased to know something the boy didn't. "He works at Hogwarts."**

**"Oh," said the boy, "I've heard of him. He's a sort of servant, isn't he?"**

"No he isn't," everyone shouted.

**"He's the gamekeeper," said Harry. He was liking the boy less and less every second.**

**"Yes, exactly. I heard he's a sort of savage - lives in a hut on the school grounds and every now and then he gets drunk, tries to do magic, and ends up setting fire to his bed."**

Harry shot Sirius a look and the man blushed, while nearly everyone looked on confused.

"During our sixth year, Sirius overindulged at an after game party and went down to Hagrid's where he set of a firework under the bed," James explained, Padfoot shrank behind his girlfriend as Evans and Moony glared at him.

**"I think he's brilliant," said Harry coldly.**

"Go Harry," the twins cheered.

**"Do you?" said the boy, with a slight sneer. "Why is he with you? Where are your parents?"**

**"They're dead," said Harry shortly. He didn't feel much like going into the matter with this boy.**

Everyone looked sadly at Harry and his parents.

**"Oh, sorry," said the other, not sounding sorry at all. "But they were our kind, weren't they?"**

"Bastard!"

"Arthur!"

**"They were a witch and wizard, if that's what you mean."**

**"I really don't think they should let the other sort in, do you? They're just not the same, they've never been brought up to know our ways. Some of them have never even heard of Hogwarts until they get the letter, imagine. I think they should keep it in the old wizarding families. What's your surname, anyway?"**

"Who wants to bet I'm related to this kid?" Padfoot said disgusted.

"If anyone's stupid enough to take that bet they deserve to lose their money," Ron said.

**But before Harry could answer, Madam Malkin said, "That's you done, my dear," and Harry, not sorry for an excuse to stop talking to the boy, hopped down from the footstool.**

"But he was there before Harry?" Alice said confused.

"Want to bet he was being fitted for Acromantula silk?" Harry asked.

**"Well, I'll see you at Hogwarts, I suppose," said the drawling boy.**

**Harry was rather quiet as he ate the ice cream Hagrid had bought him (chocolate and raspberry with chopped nuts).**

"That's my favourite," James said.

**"What's up?" said Hagrid.**

**"Nothing," Harry lied.**

**They stopped to buy parchment and quills. Harry cheered up a bit when he found a bottle of ink that changed colour as you wrote. When they had left the shop, he said, "Hagrid, what's Quidditch?"**

James looked mortally wounded and Prongs looked like he was going to faint again.

**"Blimey, Harry, I keep forgettin' how little yeh know - not knowin' about Quidditch!"**

**"Don't make me feel worse," said Harry. He told Hagrid about the pale boy in Madam Malkin's.**

**"-and he said people from Muggle families shouldn't even be allowed in."**

"Rubbish!" James and Prongs said, looking at Lily and Evans.

**"Yer not from a Muggle family. If he'd known who yeh were - he's grown up knowin' yer name if his parents are wizardin' folk. You saw what everyone in the Leaky Cauldron was like when they saw yeh. Anyway, what does he know about it, some o' the best I ever saw were the only ones with magic in 'em in a long line o' Muggles - look at yer mum! Look what she had fer a sister!"**

"Don't remind me," Lily and Evans growled.

**"So what is Quidditch?"**

Remus and Lily silenced James while Padfoot, Moony, Evans and Marlene held Prongs at wandpoint until he continued.

**"It's our sport. Wizard sport. It's like - like soccer in the Muggle world - everyone follows Quidditch - played up in the air on broomsticks and there's four balls - sorta hard ter explain the rules."**

**"And what are Slytherin and Hufflepuff?"**

**"School houses. There's four. Everyone says Hufflepuff are a lot o' duffers, but -"**

"Oi" Tonks exclaimed, getting quite angry at everyone putting down her house as her hair went from pink to scarlet.

"Sorry, I interrupted him," Harry apologised.

**"I bet I'm in Hufflepuff" said Harry gloomily.**

**"Better Hufflepuff than Slytherin," said Hagrid darkly. "There's not a single witch or wizard who went bad who wasn't in Slytherin.**

"I can think of a few," Harry and Sirius muttered.

**You-Know-Who was one."**

The Slytherins present grimaced.

**"Vol-, sorry - You-Know-Who was at Hogwarts?"**

**"Years an' years ago," said Hagrid.**

"1938 to 1944" Harry said to everyone's, minus Dumbledore who was curious as to how Harry knew that, shock and amazement.

**They bought Harry's school books in a shop called Flourish and Blotts where the shelves were stacked to the ceiling with books as large as paving stones bound in leather; books the size of postage stamps in covers of silk; books full of peculiar symbols and a few books with nothing in them at all.  
Even Dudley, who never read anything, would have been wild to get his hands on some of these. **

**Harry was flicking through the contents list of **_**Curses and Countercurses (Bewitch Your Friends and Befuddle Your Enemies with the Latest Revenges: Hair Loss, Jelly-Legs, Tongue- Tying and Much, Much More) by Professor Vindictus Viridian**_** after picking up some books on wizarding customs and laws and Goblin customs as well as an archived copy of **_**The Auror's Handbook **_**from the fifties and **_**Last Stand: The Hanoverian Art of War**_

Harry's parents, Sirius, Remus, Moody and Minerva looked at Harry curiously as the books were read out.

"I was tired of being bullied; I knew I couldn't fight back physically so I decided to fight back magically, or I would if the law allowed it," he said to the unasked question. "It did give me an advantage at school though," he added thoughtfully to which James and Sirius smirked and Snape and Minerva groaned.

**And several reference and theory books for his subjects and an ingredient reactions text for potions when someone bumped into him and dropped their books.**

"**I'm sorry, I didn't mean to walk into you," a girl said quickly before kneeling down to pick up her books, Harry knelt down to help her, noting she had picked many books on recent history as well as multiple reference books for their subjects. They both reached out to pick up the last book and touched each other's hands, Harry looked up to find himself looking into the most beautiful chocolate brown eyes he'd ever seen. The two stared at each other for a moment before the girl pulled back her hand and Harry held out her book.  
He got a better look at her as she took it: she was taller than him by about three inches, she had bright chocolate brown eyes you seemed to lose yourself in, she had delicate facial features and a soft jawline, her hair was a thick mane of bushy brown curls that looked untameable, perhaps more so than his own hair, but Harry thought it had a unique character, she smiled nervously showing she had large front teeth that many of Harry's old schoolmates and Dudley would consider ugly but he thought her smile was beautiful and lit up the room.**

Harry blushed and ducked his head, embarrassed, while Hermione smiled lovingly at him, he'd always liked her how she was.

"**It's ok, these aisles are pretty narrow and the books are a bit big, first year at Hogwarts?" Harry said, something inside made him want to be friends with this girl.**

Harry's friends smiled at the couple but the adults looked at them curiously, wondering if there was something else that was affecting them.

"**Yes, I couldn't believe it when I was told, nobody in my family's magic at all, it was ever such a surprise when I got my letter, but I was ever so pleased, of course, I mean, it's the very best school of witchcraft there is, I heard – I'm going to learn as much as I can before I reach school, Aren't you?" the girl said quickly and excitedly.**

Prongs took a few deep breaths to get his breath back, "Merlin Hermione you can talk"

Hermione grinned sheepishly as she remembered the discussion on the train.

"**My parents were magic and went to Hogwarts but were killed when I was a baby," the girl gasped, "I grew up with my mother's sister who is a muggle, non-magic," he explained at the girls confused look, "they never told me, I think they thought that if I didn't know they could force me to become normal in their eyes**

Everyone growled at the reminder.

**But Hagrid, he's one of the staff, came and explained everything, even how my parents died. He's helping me collect my supplies and ease me into this new world," he said, surprised how easy it was to talk to her.**

"**I would recommend you pick up a few books on wizarding customs and laws, we weren't raised in this world so we don't know what not to do yet," Harry cautioned, showing her the books he'd chosen.**

**The girl opened her mouth to speak but was interrupted by a voice calling out, "Hermione?"  
She looked to him, "I'm sorry that's my mum, I've got to go," she said apologetically.  
"It's ok, I hope to see you at school," Harry said before adding, "My name's Harry, Harry Potter."  
"I'm Hermione Granger, it was nice meeting you, Harry, see you at school," she said, smiling as she waved goodbye to him and went to find her mother.**

**Harry was in a slight daze as he took his book choices to the counter with Hagrid, he couldn't get Hermione's beautiful smile out of his mind's eye.**

**Hagrid wouldn't let Harry buy a solid gold cauldron**

James and Prongs grinned sheepishly; they'd tried that as well.

**("It says pewter on yer list"), but they got a nice set of scales for weighing potion ingredients and a collapsible brass telescope. Then they visited the Apothecary, which was fascinating enough to make up for its horrible smell, a mixture of bad eggs and rotted cabbages. Barrels of slimy stuff stood on the floor; jars of herbs, dried roots, and bright powders lined the walls; bundles of feathers, strings of fangs, and gnarled claws hung from the ceiling. While Hagrid asked the man behind the counter for a supply of some basic potion ingredients for Harry, Harry himself examined silver unicorn horns at twenty-one Galleons each and minuscule, glittery-black beetle eyes (five Knuts a scoop).**

"For the record, I was looking forward to Potions before I met the teacher," Harry said loudly, making Snape hang his head as Minerva glared while Slughorn looked confused and slightly hurt, Lily and James looked at Harry questioningly but Harry didn't elaborate, he knew the first potions class was likely to be mentioned.

**Outside the Apothecary, Hagrid checked Harry's list again.**

**"Just yer wand left - A yeah, an' I still haven't got yeh a birthday present."**

**Harry felt himself go red.**

**"You don't have to -"**

"You never got a birthday present from those animals did you?" Sirius asked.

Lily, James, Sirius, Remus, Minerva, Molly and Athur silently promised to spoil him next year as he nodded without meeting Sirius' eyes.

**"I know I don't have to. Tell yeh what, I'll get yer animal. Not a toad, toads went outta fashion years ago,**

Harry's friends looked at Neville who blushed.

**yeh'd be laughed at - an' I don' like cats, they make me sneeze. **

Hermione huffed and pouted cutely again.

**I'll get yer an owl. All the kids want owls, they're dead useful, carry yer mail an' everythin'."**

**They went into a shop called Magical Menagerie, it was quite dark and was filled with many, hoots and hisses and barks from the many different animals. He walked between two aisles where on one side was a series of large cages with small kitten like creatures with different shades of fur and the other held a large tank with many types of snake, the snakes stopped and watched him as he passed.**

"They always react to a speaker," Regulus said quietly.

**As he reached the end of the aisle, he felt a need to turn left. On the far left wall were a series of high sided boxes with smooth sides inside containing a number of puppy-like creatures and wolf cubs. He felt drawn to a particular box that held a black and white furred wolf cub; a magnificent snowy owl was perched on a railing above the box as well.**

**The cub padded over to the edge of the box, looking up to him as the owl fluttered down and landed on his shoulder and started preening his hair. Harry looked from the owl back to the cub, which was now standing on its hind legs with its fore paws pressed on the wall of the box. He reached down and picked up the cub and cradled it in his arms.**

**It had black fur on top of its head that went down its back to its tail and fell between its eyes to fall around the back of its snout. The rest of its snout and face was white which continued down its neck to its chest and belly and to the underside of its tail and legs except for the front right paw which had a black sock.**

**The cub was now wriggling in his arms and sniffing his hands and chest excitedly, as it looked up to him Harry noticed it had two Irises, the outer Iris was a normal gold but the inner Iris was a bright red and star shaped.**

"**She likes you," said a voice behind Harry. He turned to find the shop assistant watching him with Hagrid. "It seems they both do."**

"**I'm sorry" Harry asked confused.  
"The owl and cub have resisted all attempts to buy them which led me to believe they had familiar bonds and were waiting for their master to arrive," the shop assistant explained as the cub licked Harry's hand before biting him.**

"What?" everyone cried.

"Wait and you'll see," Harry said.

**Harry winced as the cubs fangs sank into him, the assistant and Hagrid went to pull the cub away but the cub licked up the blood and there was a flash of light and the wound healed instantly.**

**The three watched in awe as the cub changed in Harry's hands, the black fur on its head becoming very messy in a clear resemblance to Harry's mop, the gold eyes changed to emerald green and the pup became thin and slender in build.**

"**It seems she is your familiar, there are two ways to form the bond, that way and proximity for several years, she will answer to no one but you." The assistant said, slightly in awe of what he'd seen.**

"**Why does she have two Irises?" Harry asked as the cub curled up again.**

Several people seemed to want an answer to that.

"**She is a wolf-Grim hybrid, a Grim is a large spectral dog that guards graveyards. Most witches and wizards in Britain believe a Grim is an omen of death and it is true a number die shortly after seeing one but there are no records of one directly causing a death, I personally believe they are sentinels who watch over the last resting places of the dead," the assistant explained as he beckoned Harry over to the counter.**

**He walked over, cub in hand and owl still on his shoulder. The assistant gave him a basic explanation on how to care for them as he paid for cub while Hagrid paid for the owl. Harry started to protest but Hagrid waved him off.**

**"Don' mention it," said Hagrid gruffly. "Don' expect you've had a lotta presents from them Dursleys. Just Ollivanders left now - only place fer wands, Ollivanders, and yeh gotta have the best wand."**

**A magic wand... this was what Harry had been really looking forward to.**

"It's what everyone looks forward to," William said, everyone nodded in agreement.

**The last shop was narrow and shabby. Peeling gold letters over the door read Ollivanders: Makers of Fine Wands since 382 B.C. A single wand lay on a faded purple cushion in the dusty window.**

"What wand is that?" Ginny asked.

"The story changes each year but I was told it is a copy of the Elder Wand," Dumbledore explained.

**A tinkling bell rang somewhere in the depths of the shop as they stepped inside. It was a tiny place, empty except for a single, spindly chair that Hagrid sat on to wait. **

**Harry felt strangely as though he had entered a very strict library; he swallowed a lot of new questions that had just occurred to him and looked instead at the thousands of narrow boxes piled neatly right up to the ceiling. For some reason, the back of his neck prickled. The very dust and silence in here seemed to tingle with some secret magic.**

Everyone looked at Harry shocked. "You could feel that?" Lucius asked.

"Yeah, can't everyone?" Harry said confused.

"No Mr Potter, only a very powerful witch or wizard can sense ambient magic," Dumbledore explained, looking at Harry very carefully.

"I could feel it too," Hermione said, everyone, even Harry, looked at her in surprise.

**"Hello," said Harry awkwardly. There was no reply. "Hello?" he repeated, louder this time.**

**There was a sound of something moving along a rail and a ladder on a rail came to a stop at the end of an aisle going toward the back of the shop. An old man with grey hair and silver eyes was standing on it.**

**Harry jumped. Hagrid must have jumped, too, because there was a loud crunching noise and he got quickly off the spindly chair.**

Hermione giggled, "So that's why there was a pile of firewood in the corner when I went to get my wand."

**The old man smiled as he saw his customer, "I wondered when I'd be seeing you, Harry Potter." It wasn't a question. "You have your mother's eyes. It seems only yesterday she was in here herself, buying her first wand. Ten and a quarter inches long, swishy, made of willow. Nice wand for charm work." He said as he stepped off the ladder and walked towards Harry.**

Lily smiled gently and ran her fingers along her wand as someone said "How does he remember that?"

**Mr. Ollivander moved closer to Harry. Harry wished he would blink. Those silvery eyes were a bit creepy.**

Everyone muttered in agreement.

**"Your father, on the other hand, favored a mahogany wand. Eleven inches. Pliable. A little more power and excellent for transfiguration. Well, I say your father favored it - it's really the wand that chooses the wizard, of course."**

James smiled as his hand went to his holstered wand.

**Mr. Ollivander had come so close that he and Harry were almost nose to nose. Harry could see himself reflected in those misty eyes.**

"Creepy"

**"And that's where..."**

**Mr. Ollivander touched the lightning scar on Harry's forehead with a long, white finger.**

"He's the only person to do that, right?" James asked.

"Yes," Harry said before noticing the twins.

"No!" he said sharply making their faces fall.

**"I'm sorry to say I sold the wand that did it," he said softly. "Thirteen-and-a-half inches. Yew. Powerful wand, very powerful, and in the wrong hands... well, if I'd known what that wand was going out into the world to do..." he said sadly.**

"There was no way to know, the boy had yet to become the man" Harry said solemnly, making everyone stare at him curiously while Dumbledore nodded sadly.

**He shook his head and then, to Harry's relief, spotted Hagrid.**

**"Ah, Rubeus Hagrid. How nice to see you again... Oak, sixteen inches, rather bendy, wasn't it?"**

**"It was, sir, yes," said Hagrid.**

**"Good wand, that one. But I suppose they snapped it in half when you got expelled?" said Mr. Ollivander, suddenly stern.**

**"Er - yes, they did, yes," said Hagrid, shuffling his feet. "I've still got the pieces, though," he added brightly.**

**"But you don't use them?" said Mr. Ollivander sharply.**

"Of course not," Bill said sarcastically as most people chuckled, giggled in the girls cases.

**"Oh, no, sir," said Hagrid quickly. Harry noticed he gripped his pink umbrella very tightly as he spoke.**

**"Hmmm," said Mr. Ollivander, giving Hagrid a piercing look. "Well, now - Mr. Potter. Let me see." He pulled a long tape measure with silver markings out of his pocket. "Which is your wand arm?"**

**"Er - well, I'm right-handed," said Harry.**

**"Hold out your arm. That's it." He measured Harry from shoulder to finger, then wrist to elbow, shoulder to floor, knee to armpit and round his head. **

"Why does he take so many measurements?" Neville asked. No one had an answer.

**As he measured, he said, "Every Ollivander wand has a core of a powerful magical substance, Mr. Potter. We use unicorn hairs, phoenix tail feathers, and the heartstrings of dragons. No two Ollivander wands are the same, just as no two unicorns, dragons, or phoenixes are quite the same. And of course, you will never get such good results with another wizard's wand."**

"That's true," Ron and Neville said as their friends smiled at them.

**Harry suddenly realized that the tape measure, which was measuring between his nostrils, was doing this on its own. Mr. Ollivander was flitting around the shelves, taking down boxes.**

**"That will do," he said, and the tape measure crumpled into a heap on the floor. "Right then, Mr. Potter. Try this one. Beechwood and dragon heartstring. Nine inches." **

"**Well, give it a wave."**

**Harry took the wand and (feeling foolish) waved it, several draws on a nearby side board shot outwards scattering papers and even feathers over the floor.**

"**Apparently not," Mr Ollivander said before holding a hand up and fetching a box from the left side of his shop.**

**"Maple and phoenix feather, Seven inches. Perhaps this?"**

**Harry took the wand and flicked it at a vase behind the counter, which exploded.**

**"No, no, definitely not. No matter," Mr Ollivander said, climbing back down from the ladder as Harry placed the rejected wand back on the counter.**

**Harry tried and tried. The pile of tried wands was mounting higher and higher on the counter, but Mr. Ollivander seemed to be waiting for something.**

**"You're a rather tricky customer. Not to worry, we'll find the perfect match here somewhere," he said as he returned to the aisle at the back of his shop.**

**His hand wavered over several boxes before it came to rest on a very old, very dusty box which he drew out and carefully inspected in his hands.**

"**I wonder?" he said quietly, he turned to Harry, who was watching him curiously, and gave him an unreadable look before returning to the shop front and removed the wand from the box.**

"**Holly and phoenix feather, eleven inches," he said as he held the wand out for Harry.**

**Harry took the wand. He felt a sudden warmth in his fingers, there was a brief swirl of air too. He raised the wand above his head, brought it swishing down through the dusty air and a stream of red and gold sparks shot from the end like a firework, **

"Yeah, Gryffindor colours," James, Sirius, Padfoot and Prongs yelled.

**throwing dancing spots of light on to the walls. Hagrid clapped and Mr. Ollivander said in an odd tone, "Curious, very curious."**

"What's curious?" Alice asked.

**"Sorry," said Harry, "but what's curious?"**

**Mr. Ollivander fixed Harry with his pale stare.**

**"I remember every wand I've ever sold, Mr. Potter. Every single wand. It so happens that the phoenix whose tail feather is in your wand, gave another feather - just one other. It is curious that **_**you**_** should be destined for this wand – when its brother – gave you that scar."**

"Oh Merlin!" the twins exclaimed as everyone stared at Harry.

"It's not a bad thing, saved my life in June actually," Harry said.

"Priori Incantatem?" Dumbledore asked as everyone stared at Harry.

Several people gasped as Harry nodded.

**Harry swallowed.**

**"Curious how these things happen. After all, the wand chooses the wizard. It's not always clear why. I think we can expect great things from you, Mr Potter... After all, He- Who-Must-Not-Be-Named did great things - terrible, yes, but great."**

"Is he admiring Voldywort?" Padfoot asked.

"I think he is admiring the magic behind his actions not the act itself or the man," Dumbledore explained.

**Harry shivered. He wasn't sure he liked Mr. Ollivander too much.**

Everyone smiled in understanding.

**He paid seven gold Galleons for his wand, and Mr. Ollivander bowed them from his shop.**

**The late afternoon sun hung low in the sky as Harry and Hagrid made their way back down Diagon Alley, back through the wall, back through the Leaky Cauldron, now empty. Harry didn't speak at all as they walked down the road; he didn't even notice how much people were gawking at them on the Underground, laden as they were with all their funny-shaped packages, with the snowy owl asleep in its cage on Harry's lap. Up another escalator, out into Paddington station; Harry only realized where they were when Hagrid tapped him on the shoulder.**

**"Got time fer a bite to eat before yer train leaves," he said.**

**He bought Harry a hamburger and they sat down on plastic seats to eat them. Harry kept looking around. Everything looked so strange, somehow.**

"I know exactly what you mean," Hermione, Lily and Evans said again, makin Harry, James and Prongs exchange another look.

**"You all right, Harry? Yer very quiet," said Hagrid.**

**Harry wasn't sure he could explain. He'd just had the best birthday of his life - and yet - he chewed his hamburger, trying to find the words.**

**"Everyone thinks I'm special," he said at last. "All those people in the Leaky Cauldron, Professor Quirrell, Mr. Ollivander... but I don't know anything about magic at all. How can they expect great things? I'm famous and I can't even remember what I'm famous for. I don't know what happened when Vol-, sorry - I mean, the night my parents died."**

"I do now," Harry grumbled, his parents looked at him horrified until Remus quietly explained Dementors had guarded the school in his third year and they'd searched the train. They weren't happy but stayed quiet for now.

**Hagrid leaned across the table. Behind the wild beard and eyebrows he wore a very kind smile.**

**"Don' you worry, Harry. You'll learn fast enough. Everyone starts at the beginning at Hogwarts, you'll be just fine. just be yerself. I know it's hard. Yeh've been singled out, an' that's always hard. But yeh'll have a great time at Hogwarts - I did - still do, 'smatter of fact."**

**Hagrid helped Harry on to the train that would take him back to the Dursleys, then handed him an envelope.**

**"Yer ticket fer Hogwarts, " he said. "First o' September - King's Cross - it's all on yer ticket. Any problems with the Dursleys, send me a letter with yer owl, she'll know where to find me... See yeh soon, Harry."**

**The train pulled out of the station. Harry wanted to watch Hagrid until he was out of sight; he rose in his seat and pressed his nose against the window, but he blinked and Hagrid had gone.**

"That's it," Prongs said, marking the page and closing the book.

Evans however groaned, "Hagrid didn't tell you how to get to the platform."

"I made it ok, despite my relatives," Harry said, smiling at the Weasley's who smiled back.

"Who wants to read besides Padfoot?" Prongs asked as Padfoot pouted.

"Can I read?" Alice asked.

"Thanks," she said as Prongs gave her the book.

"Chapter 6, **The Journey from Platform 9 and Three-Quarters**," Alice read.


	8. Chapter8-The Journey From Platform 9 34

The Journey From Platform Nine And Three-Quarters

**"THE JOURNEY FROM PLATFORM NINE AND THREE-QUARTERS" **Alice read.

Sirius, the twins, Prongs and Padfoot cheered, "Harry's escaping Durzkaban!"

"Durzkaban?" Lily asked her son, who was staring at prongs and padfoot wondering how they knew his nickname for number 4.

"Vernon made the house feel like a prison the summer after first year," he explained, but Lily, James, Sirius and Remus knew he wasn't telling the whole truth.

**Harry's last month with the Dursleys wasn't fun. **

"Since when was it _EVER_ fun?" Ron asked incredulously.

"When your dad blew up the living room," Harry answered smiling.

Ron and the twins laughed as Arthur avoided his wife's eyes as Molly gave her husband a piercing look.

**True, Dudley was now so scared of Harry he wouldn't stay in the same room, while Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon didn't shut Harry in his cupboard, force him to do anything, or shout at him (although Vernon did comment on Luna howling at the full moon once, but her singing actually acted as a lullaby as he couldn't sleep that night) – in fact, they didn't speak to him much at all. **

"I would say that is an improvement but it would get boring after a while," Severus said, Harry and several others quietly agreed.

**Half terrified, half furious, they acted as though any chair with Harry in it were empty. Although this was an improvement in many ways, it did become a bit depressing after a while.**

"Didn't Snivellous just say tha… Ahhh!"

"Say that again in front of me and the consequences will be severe," Harry warned padfoot, putting his wand away. Evans, Lily and Severus smiled gratefully. James kept his face straight but secretly was proud of his son, he had gone too far in singling Severus out when he was younger far too often, it was good that he wasn't tolerating their behaviour.

**Harry kept to his room, with his new owl and for company. He had decided to call his owl Hedwig, a name he had found in A History of Magic.**

"You read it?" Fred asked.

"Yes I wanted to learn as much about this new world as possible," Harry said, a little annoyed at the twins, and Ron's, attitudes, some of his best prank ideas came from reading his textbooks.

**He'd decided to call his cub Luna due to her fascination with the moon; she seemed to like the name. Aunt Petunia was unusually accepting of Luna, she hated animals as a rule, but she seemed to like the energetic but well behaved cub.**

**His school books were very interesting.**

"Who are you, Hermione?" Ron asked.

"I'm right here," Hermione warned, fingering her wand.

Ron blushed and quickly stammered an apology.

**He found the Transfiguration and potions texts particularly interesting, and after checking his books and Wizard customs and laws, started practicing for both subjects.**

"WHAT!" every teen shouted.

"You practiced magic before school started?" prongs demanded, "And you weren't cautioned for it?"

"The trace doesn't activate until after the sorting ceremony is over, you aren't technically accepted into Hogwarts until you are sorted," Harry explained, idly playing with a lock of Hermione's hair. "The Ministry can't detect individual magical signatures on spells in magical households due to the building being saturated in magic, and you can perform magic in front of magic aware muggles as long as there are no non-aware muggles able to see or hear."

The younger versions of Harry's parents and their friends along with Tonks, Remus, Sirius and Lily and nearly all the pure-bloods groaned or face palmed in realisation.

**He also began to read his history and Defence books and learned a few basic spells for duelling; including the **_**Expeliarmus **_**disarming jinx, the **_**Incarcerous**_** binding hex, the **_**Petrificus Totalus**_** jinx, the **_**Bombarda**_** hex, and the **_**Contegno**_** shield charm.**

"That's impressive, especially as you hadn't even got to school yet," Charlie complemented, most of the adults agreeing with him.

**Although it would be some time before he mastered any of them.**

**He lay on his bed reading late into the night,**

"Hermione," Ron coughed.

"Ron," Harry warned as Hermione glared at the red head.

**Hedwig swooping in and out of the open window as she pleased. It was lucky that Aunt Petunia didn't come in to vacuum anymore, because Hedwig kept bringing back dead mice.**

"That means she likes you and recognises you as her master," Moony said.

**Every night before he went to sleep, Harry ticked off another day on the piece of paper he had pinned to the wall, counting down to September the first.**

"I used to do that too," Sirius, Remus, Snape and Lily commented.

**On the last day of August he thought he'd better speak to his aunt and uncle about getting to King's Cross station the next day,**

"Why would you ask them the day before?" Alice asked.

"Less time for them to change their minds," Harry replied, shrugging.

**So he went down to the living room where they were watching a quiz show on television. He cleared his throat to let them know he was there, and Dudley screamed and ran from the room.**

The room echoed with laughter

**"Er - Uncle Vernon?"**

**Uncle Vernon grunted to show he was listening.**

**"Er - I need to be at King's Cross tomorrow to - to go to Hog – I mean school."**

**Uncle Vernon grunted again.**

**"Would it be all right if you gave me a lift?"**

**Grunt. Harry supposed that meant yes.**

"I didn't know you could speak troll," George said.

"It's easy, you just grunt and point," Harry replied, smirking at Fred who looked shocked.

Everyone that had been at the World Cup laughed.

**"Thank you."**

**He was about to go back upstairs when Uncle Vernon actually spoke.**

**"Funny way to get to a wizards' school, the train. Magic carpets all got punctures, have they?"**

"No, they're illegal," Arthur sighed; he was still being pressured to allow imports despite the law.

**Harry didn't say anything.**

**"Where is this school, anyway?"**

"Scotland," Lavender said.

**"I don't know," said Harry, realizing this for the first time. He pulled the ticket Hagrid had given him out of his pocket.**

**"I just take the train from platform nine and three-quarters at eleven o'clock," he read.**

**His aunt and uncle stared.**

"Petunia's been there before," Lily, Evans and Severus said darkly.

**"Platform what?"**

**"Nine and three-quarters."**

**"Don't talk rubbish," said Uncle Vernon. "There is no platform nine and three-quarters."**

"Yes there is," several people said.

**"It's on my ticket."**

**"Barking," said Uncle Vernon, "howling mad, the lot of them.**

"OI!" Sirius and padfoot exclaimed, as everyone who knew their secret laughed.

**You'll see. You just wait. All right, we'll take you to King's Cross. We're going up to London tomorrow anyway, or I wouldn't bother."**

**"Why are you going to London?" Harry asked, trying to keep things friendly.**

"Shouldn't have bothered," Harry heard Hermione mutter.

**"Taking Dudley to the hospital," growled Uncle Vernon. "Got to have that ruddy tail removed before he goes to Smeltings."**

"Don't, it's a conversation starter" James joked.

Everybody laughed.

**Harry woke at five o'clock the next morning and was too excited and nervous to go back to sleep.**

"I was the same," nearly everyone said.

**He got up and pulled on his jeans because he didn't want to walk into the station in his wizard's robes - he'd change on the train.**

"Good, you won't make us have to send obliviators," Mr Weasley commented.

Regulus, padfoot and Sirius blushed as their friends sniggered; their parents had done that when Sirius boarded the train the first time. The obliviators had been busy for a week.

**He checked his Hogwarts list yet again to make sure he had everything he needed, saw that Hedwig was shut safely in her cage, Luna lying patiently on the end of the bed and then paced the room, waiting for the Dursleys to get up. **

**Two hours later, Harry's huge, heavy trunk had been loaded into the Dursleys' car, Aunt Petunia had talked Dudley into sitting next to Harry, and they had set off.**

"Bribed him more like, she slipped him a fifty pound note," Harry muttered.

Everyone who heard scowled at that

**They reached King's Cross at half past ten. Uncle Vernon dumped Harry's trunk onto a cart and wheeled it into the station for him. **

"That's kind of him," James said his eyes narrowing in suspicion, an expression his wife and their younger counterparts shared.

**Harry thought this was strangely kind until Uncle Vernon stopped dead, facing the platforms with a nasty grin on his face.**

"Uh oh," Charlie said.

"This can't be good," Bill finished.

The twins glared at their brothers.

**"Well, there you are, boy. Platform nine - platform ten. Your platform should be somewhere in the middle, but they don't seem to have built it yet, do they?"**

"It's there, you just can't see it," Charlus reassured them.

**He appeared to be right there was a big plastic number nine over one platform and a big plastic number ten over the one next to it, and in the middle, a long row of brick columns between the platforms.**

**"Have a good term," said Uncle Vernon with an even nastier smile. He left without another word. Harry turned and saw the Dursleys drive away.**

"PETUNIA KNOWS HOW TO GET ON THE PLATFORM!" Lily shouted, sparks flying from her wand.

Nearly everyone in the room shared her expression, James, Remus and Sirius were shaking in rage, Arthur was pacing the room trying to calm down, Charlie was muttering about feeding them to a horntail, and Bill was thinking up ways to get them in trouble with the goblins.

The twin's hands were shaking so hard they were having trouble writing in their notebook.

Nearly everyone else, even Dumbledore, was wishing they could get revenge on the Dursleys for everything they'd done.

**All three of them were laughing. Harry's mouth went rather dry. What on earth was he going to do? He was starting to attract a lot of funny looks, because of Hedwig and Luna. He'd have to ask someone.**

**He stopped a passing guard, but didn't dare mention platform nine and three-quarters. **

"Good," Moody said approvingly.

**The guard had never heard of Hogwarts and when Harry couldn't even tell him what part of the country it was in, he started to get annoyed, as though Harry was being stupid on purpose. Getting desperate, Harry asked for the train that left at eleven o'clock, but the guard said there wasn't one. In the end the guard strode away, muttering about time wasters. Harry was now trying hard not to panic.**

Everyone gave Harry a sympathetic look.

**According to the large clock over the arrivals board, he had twenty five minutes left to get on the train to Hogwarts and he had no idea how to do it; he was stranded in the middle of a station with a trunk he could hardly lift, a pocket full of wizard money, a wolf cub and a large owl.**

**Hagrid must have forgotten to tell him something you had to do, like tapping the third brick on the left to get into Diagon Alley.**

**He wondered if he should get out his wand and start tapping the ticket inspector's stand between platforms nine and ten, but concluded that if he wasn't caught in the act doing so it could cause a bad reaction with whatever magic protected the entrance.**

"Phew," Sirius and James said as Lily congratulated Harry for thinking his predicament through.

"Good," Moody said, nodding approvingly.

**At that moment a group of people passed just behind him and he caught a few words of what they were saying.**

**"- packed with Muggles, of course -"**

**Harry swung round. The speaker was a plump woman who was talking to four boys, all with flaming red hair.**

Everyone turned to look at the Weasleys, Molly was blushing but everyone else looked a bit smug.

**Each of them was pushing a trunk like Harry's in front of him - and they had an owl.**

**Heart hammering, Harry pushed his cart after them. They stopped and so did he, just near enough to hear what they were saying.**

**"Now, what's the platform number?" said the boys' mother.**

"You still ask that," Charlie groaned to his mother.

"When Charlie first went to Hogwarts, he raced Bill and they crashed into the wrong arch," George explained, making everyone laugh while the two men blushed and glared at George.

**"Nine and three-quarters!" piped a small girl, also red-headed, who was holding her hand, "Mom, can't I go... "**

Ginny blushed and hid behind her hair, knowing what was coming up and silently praying Harry hadn't seen or heard.

**"You're not old enough, Ginny, now be quiet. All right, Percy, you go first."**

**What looked like the oldest boy marched toward platforms nine and ten. Harry watched, careful not to blink in case he missed it - but just as the boy reached the columns dividing the two platforms, a large crowd of tourists came swarming in front of him and by the time the last backpack had cleared away, the boy had vanished.**

"Just your luck, Harry," Hermione giggled.

**"Fred, you next," the plump woman said.**

**"I'm not Fred, I'm George," said the boy. "Honestly, woman, you call yourself our mother? Can't you tell I'm George?"**

**"Sorry, George, dear."**

**"Only joking, I am Fred," said the boy,**

"Brilliant," Both sets of marauders shouted.

The twins looked like Christmas had come early.

**and off he went. His twin called after him to hurry up, and he must have done so, because a second later, he had gone - but how had he done it?**

"Magic,"

**Now the third brother was walking briskly toward the arch he was almost there - and then, quite suddenly, he wasn't anywhere.**

"Did you hear that? I wasn't anywhere," said George dramatically.

"I know, my brother, I know," Fred replied consolingly.

**There was nothing else for it. But at the same time, he was suspicious. If this woman had sent three sons to Hogwarts already, surely she'd now not to risk attracting attention. **

Everyone nodded in agreement as Molly blushed as only a Weasley can.

**She looked to the last and youngest of her sons. He was tall, thin, and gangling, with freckles, big hands and feet, and a long nose.**

Everyone laughed as Ron's description was read out.

"Thanks mate," Ron said sarcastically.

Harry smiled at him as Ron glared back.

**The boy pushed his trolley around and stared at the barrier. It looked very solid.**

"It is," Ron and Harry said together. Everyone looked at them but they didn't elaborate.

**He started to walk toward it. But just like his brothers, he vanished. This time though, Harry saw him fade into the arch, like he was walking through an illusion.**

**Harry stood amazed as he realised what he was seeing, by the time he came to his senses the woman had walked through, but not before glancing around as if looking for someone.**

Several people looked suspiciously at Molly but Alice continued before they could speak.

**Harry started walking to the hidden entrance when a small family came up behind him; a familiar looking girl was pushing a trolley with a large trunk and looking very excited.**

"**Come on, the trains leaving in fifteen minutes. Oh, I can't wait to get there, I hope lessons start tomorrow, I wonder what they're going to be like," came the voice of the girl Harry had met in Diagon Alley, Hermione Granger, slightly squeaky from her excitement.**

"My voice does not go squeaky," Hermione denied. Her friends and boyfriend exchanged a look.

"Yes it does," they said together, laughing as she pouted at them.

**Behind her was a tall man with bushy dark brown hair and blue eyes and a woman with curly light brown hair with Hermione's warm chocolate brown eyes, both looking very amused by their daughters excitement.**

**Harry didn't hear his name called out as he went through the barrier, he had jogged toward it as he'd seen the three brothers do earlier and was waiting for the crash.**

Hermione sighed, she'd been hoping to find Harry before school, but that hadn't happened.

**It didn't come... he kept on jogging... he slowed to a walk and turned his trolley away from the fast approaching opposite pillar and found himself on the end of the platform. A scarlet steam engine was waiting next to the platform, which was packed with people. A sign overhead said Hogwarts Express, eleven O'clock.**

Everyone was smiling, thinking about their first time on the Hogwarts Express.

**Harry looked behind him and saw a wrought-iron archway where the barrier had been, with the words Platform Nine and Three-Quarters on it, He had done it.**

Harry's family, his whole family, smiled at him.

**Smoke from the engine drifted over the heads of the chattering crowd, while cats of every colour wound here and there between their legs. Owls hooted to one another in a disgruntled sort of way over the babble and the scraping of heavy trunks.**

**The first few carriages were already packed with students, some hanging out of the window to talk to their families, some fighting over seats. Harry pushed his cart off down the platform in search of an empty seat. He passed a round-faced boy who was saying, "Gran, I've lost my toad again."**

**"Oh, Neville," he heard the old woman sigh.**

"Is that you?" Frank asked looking at Neville.

Neville nodded sadly to him.

"But why aren't we with you?" Alice asked, confused and worried.

Neville opened his mouth but no words came out.

"Would you like to stop and talk in private after the chapter?" Harry asked.

Neville nodded and Alice continued.

**A boy with dreadlocks was surrounded by a small crowd.**

**"Give us a look, Lee, go on."**

**The boy lifted the lid of a box in his arms, and the people around him shrieked and yelled as something inside poked out a long, hairy leg.**

Ron shuddered at the memory, Lavender hugged him again and glared at the twins who were looking very worried and ashamed.

**Harry pressed on through the crowd until he found an empty compartment near the end of the train. He put Hedwig inside first, Luna clambering up after him and curling up on the seat and then started to shove and heave his trunk toward the train door. He tried to lift it up the steps but could hardly raise one end and twice he dropped it painfully on his foot.**

"Ouch," James, Prongs, Sirius and padfoot said, wincing in sympathy, they'd done that many times.

**"Want a hand?" It was one of the red-haired twins he'd followed through the barrier.**

**"Yes, please," Harry panted.**

"You're being kind to someone?" Lavender asked suspiciously, there was always a catch when those two were kind and/or generous.

"I find that insulting," George said indignantly.

"We can be kind whenever we like," Fred agreed in the same tone.

"No, only to scrawny midgets you feel sorry for," Harry muttered, making Hermione giggle loudly.

**"Oy, Fred! C'mere and help!"**

**With the twins' help, Harry's trunk was at last tucked away in a corner of the compartment.**

**"Thanks," said Harry, pushing his sweaty hair out of his eyes.**

**"What's that?" said one of the twins suddenly, pointing at Harry's lightning scar.**

**"Blimey," said the other twin. "Are you**

**"He is," said the first twin. "Aren't you?" he added to Harry.**

**"What?" said Harry.**

**"Harry Potter, "chorused the twins.**

**"What? Oh, right" said Harry. "Yes, I am."**

Everyone was laughing at a rather red Harry.

"Really Harry?" Tonks choked out.

Harry glared at her, "I wasn't used to everyone knowing my name."

**The two boys gawked at him, and Harry felt himself turning red. As they stood there looking at him though, Harry noticed some small differences between the two, now he needed to find out which was really which.**

"I'm not telling you what they are, if I figured it out so can you," Harry said to everyone who had been about to ask him.

**Then, to his relief, a voice came floating in through the train's open door.**

**"Fred? George? Are you there?"**

**"Coming, Mom."**

**With a last look at Harry, the twins hopped off the train.**

**Harry sat down next to the window where, half hidden, he could watch the red-haired family on the platform and hear what they were saying.**

"Eavesdropping, Harry?" Sirius teased.

**Their mother had just taken out her handkerchief.**

**"Ron, you've got something on your nose."**

**The youngest boy tried to jerk out of the way, but she grabbed him and began rubbing the end of his nose.**

Everyone sniggered as the boy in question went as red as his hair.

**"Mom - geroff" He wriggled free.**

**"Aaah, has ickle Ronnie got somefink on his nosie?" said one of the twins.**

"I though you said you weren't going to call him that?" Harry asked.

"We'd take it back if we could," they mumbled.

**"Shut up," said Ron.**

**"Where's Percy?" said their mother.**

"Don't care," someone muttered savagely as Molly looked ready to cry.

**"He's coming now."**

**The oldest boy came striding into sight. He had already changed into his billowing black Hogwarts robes, and Harry noticed a shiny silver badge on his chest with the letter P on it. **

Evans and Moony took their badges out and looked at them fondly.

"**Can't stay long, Mother," he said. "I'm up front, the prefects have got two compartments to themselves -"**

**"Oh, are you a prefect, Percy?" said one of the twins, with an air of great surprise. "You should have said something, we had no idea."**

**"Hang on, I think I remember him saying something about it," said the other twin. "Once -"**

**"Or twice -"**

**"A minute -"**

**"All summer -"**

"I like these two already," James said, making the twins grin madly at the approval of one of their idols.

**"Oh, shut up," said Percy the Prefect.**

"Percy the Prefect?" George asked.

"That's brilliant!" Fred shouted.

"Why didn't we think of that?" they said in unison.

**"How come Percy gets new robes, anyway?" said one of the twins.**

**"Because he's a prefect," said their mother fondly. "All right, dear, well, have a good term - send me an owl when you get there."**

**She kissed Percy on the cheek and he left. Then she turned to the twins.**

**"Now, you two - this year, you behave yourselves. If I get one more owl telling me you've - you've blown up a toilet or -"**

Half the room groaned.

"Never give pranksters ideas," Alice said as Minerva looked at Molly accusingly.

"You gave them the inspiration for that prank," Minerva demanded, Molly looked at her but was interrupted before she could begin ranting.

"Don't accuse them or her of something they are innocent of, I pulled that prank and I don't regret it, Parkinson needed to be taught to keep her mouth shut," Harry said loudly, surprising everyone.

"You did that, because of what she said to me?" Hermione asked, surprised that Harry defended her in some way before they were really friends.

"Yes, we may not have had the best start but I've liked you as long as I've known you. Parkinson was out of line and Minnie wasn't doing anything to stop it," Harry explained, leaving his mother, Molly and Minerva caught between wanting to reprimand him for the prank and ignoring it for defending Hermione.

**"Blown up a toilet? We've never blown up a toilet."**

"See," Alice said.

"No one argued, love," Frank replied.

**"Great idea though, thanks, Mom." Harry agreed silently and was already planning on how to make it happen when the mother spoke again.**

The twins and both sets of marauders grinned while Molly, Lily, Evans Minerva and McGonagall frowned.

**"It's not funny. And look after Ron."**

**"Don't worry, ickle Ronniekins is safe with us."**

**"Shut up," said Ron again. He was almost as tall as the twins already and his nose was still pink where his mother had rubbed it.**

"Over-observant git," Ron muttered as his friends sniggered.

**"Hey, Mom, guess what? Guess who we just met on the train?"**

**Harry leaned back quickly so they couldn't see him looking.**

**"Who?"**

**"Harry Potter!"**

**Harry heard the little girl's voice.**

Ginny suddenly went red as her brothers laughed.

**"Oh, Mom, can I go on the train and see him, Mom, eh please..."**

Most of the room was laughing now, Ginny glared at Harry who smiled awkwardly.

**"You've already seen him, Ginny, and the poor boy isn't something you goggle at in a zoo.**

"Why can't anyone else get that," Harry shouted in annoyance as his friend's sniggered.

**Is he really, Fred? How do you know?"**

**"I asked him. Saw his scar. It's really there - like lightning."**

**"Poor dear - no wonder he was alone, I wondered. He was ever so polite when he asked how to get onto the platform."**

Fred suddenly went pale.

**"Never mind that, do you think he remembers what You-Know-Who looks like?"**

"Don't you dare," Sirius snarled, Remus, Lily, James and Hermione shared his displeasure.

Fred hid behind his twin.

"The English language cannot adequately describe how ugly he is," Harry told him, breaking the tension as everyone laughed.

**Their mother suddenly became very stern.**

"I know that look," most of the kids from the future muttered, making Molly go red then glare at them all in turn.

**"I forbid you to ask him, Fred. No, don't you dare. As though he needs reminding of that on his first day at school."**

"Thanks," Harry said.

**"All right, keep your hair on."**

**A whistle sounded.**

**"Hurry up!" their mother said, and the three boys clambered onto the train. They leaned out of the window for her to kiss them good-bye, and their younger sister began to cry.**

**"Don't, Ginny, we'll send you loads of owls."**

**"We'll send you a Hogwarts toilet seat."**

"I never did get that," Ginny said thoughtfully.

"It went to a higher cause," George said, as his mother was about to speak.

"Indeed, it went to an intrepid first year who spent three days in the hospital wing during the last week of term," Fred continued.

Harry fought to keep a straight face as everyone waited for an answer that wasn't coming.

**"George!"**

**"Only joking, Mom."**

**The train began to move. Harry saw the boys' mother waving and their sister, half laughing, half crying, running to keep up with the train until it gathered too much speed, then she fell back and waved.**

**Harry watched the girl and her mother disappear as the train rounded the corner. Houses flashed past the window. Harry felt a great leap of excitement. He didn't know what he was going to but it had to be better than what he was leaving behind.**

"It was," Harry agreed.

**The door of the compartment slid open and the youngest redheaded boy came in.**

**"Anyone sitting there?" he asked, pointing at the seat opposite Harry. "Everywhere else is full."**

"How hard did you look?" Hermione teased.

"We pushed him in," the twins admitted as Ron went pink.

**Harry shook his head and the boy sat down. He glanced at Harry and then looked quickly out of the window, pretending he hadn't looked.**

Everyone laughed as Ron blushed.

**Harry saw he still had a black mark on his nose.**

"Why didn't you tell me?" Ron demanded.

"How is that funny?" Harry asked, earning a smile from the twins as Ron huffed and looked away.

**"Hey, Ron."**

**The twins were back.**

**"Listen, we're going down the middle of the train - Lee Jordan's got a giant tarantula down there."**

Ron shuddered again, Lavender hugged him again and angrily muttered she'd get the twins for scarring Ron like this.

Said twins quickly wondered if they should write their wills.

**"Right," mumbled Ron.**

**"Harry," said the other twin, "did we introduce ourselves? Fred and George Weasley. And this is Ron, our brother. See you later, then," he said, indicating first himself then his brother before departing, inadvertently helping Harry.**

The twins huffed in annoyance as several people laughed.

**"Bye," said Harry and Ron. The twins slid the compartment door shut behind them.**

**"Are you really Harry Potter?" Ron blurted out.**

"Way to go, Ron," someone near Harry muttered.

**Harry nodded.**

**"Oh -well, I thought it might be one of Fred and George's jokes," said Ron. "And have you really got - you know..."**

"I'd be suspicious too," everyone that knew them agreed, making the twins pout.

**He pointed at Harry's forehead.**

"Ronald!" Molly scolded.

Ron flinched but ignored her.

**Harry pulled back his bangs to show the lightning scar.**

**Ron stared.**

"Doesn't everyone," Harry muttered darkly.

**"So that's where You-Know-Who**

"Ronald!"

**"Yes," said Harry, "but I can't remember it."**

**"Nothing?" said Ron eagerly.**

"Ronald Billus Weasley! I told you not to ask him!" Molly shouted.

"Actually, you told the twins not to ask him," Ron pointed out.

Molly glared at him and muttered something about technicalities.

**"Well - I remember a lot of green light, but nothing else."**

**"Wow," said Ron.**

Everyone stared at him like he had two heads.

**He sat and stared at Harry for a few moments, then, as though he had suddenly realized what he was doing, he looked quickly out of the window again.**

Several people laughed here and Ron just shrugged sheepishly.

**"Are all your family wizards?" asked Harry, who found Ron just as interesting as Ron found him.**

"Really?" Ron asked.

"Well, yeah, you knew all about the wizarding world, I didn't yet" Harry explained.

**"Er - Yes, I think so," said Ron. "I think Mom's got a second cousin who's an accountant, but we never talk about him."**

**"So you must know loads of magic already."**

"No he doesn't," Fred teased, as Ron went first red then deathly pale as he remembered their first two months.

**The Weasleys were clearly one of those old wizarding families the pale boy in Diagon Alley had talked about.**

"Old yes, everything else…"

**"I heard you went to live with Muggles," said Ron. "What are they like?"**

**"Horrible -well, not all of them. My aunt and uncle and cousin are, though. Wish I'd had three wizard brothers."**

"Not any more, I have the next best thing," Harry said looking at Ron, Neville, the twins and Tonks.

"Harry theirs something we need to tell you later," Lily said, James nodding in agreement.

"After the chapter when Neville's talking to his parents?" Harry asked, looking back to Alice when they agreed.

**"Five," said Ron. For some reason, he was looking gloomy.**

His family looked confused.

**"I'm the sixth in our family to go to Hogwarts. You could say I've got a lot to live up to. Bill and Charlie have already left - Bill was head boy and Charlie was captain of Quidditch. Now Percy's a prefect. Fred and George mess around a lot, but they still get really good marks and everyone thinks they're really funny. Everyone expects me to do as well as the others, but if I do, it's no big deal, because they did it first. You never get anything new, either, with five brothers. I've got Bill's old robes, Charlie's old wand, and Percy's old rat."**

Harry, Hermione, Ron, Neville Sirius and Remus growled.

"Oh, Ron," Molly said sadly.

"It doesn't matter now, I got over it a while ago," Ron told his mother gently.

**Ron reached inside his jacket and pulled out a fat gray rat, which was asleep.**

"That sounds like Peter," padfoot said thoughtfully.

"Speaking of Peter, why isn't he here?" prongs asked.

"You'll see later," Harry said as his parents, friends, godfather and godwolf tensed.

**"His name's Scabbers and he's useless, he hardly ever wakes up. Percy got an owl from my dad for being made a prefect, but they couldn't aff - I mean, I got Scabbers instead."**

"Shame he didn't die," Ron muttered.

**Ron's ears went pink. He seemed to think he'd said too much, because he went back to staring out of the window.**

**Harry didn't think there was anything wrong with not being able to afford an owl. After all, he'd never had any money in his life until a month ago, and he told Ron so, all about having to wear Dudley's old clothes and never getting proper birthday presents. This seemed to cheer Ron up.**

"Ron!" Hermione, Lily, Evans and Molly scolded.

Ron flinched violently and mumbled that he didn't think like that anymore.

**"... and until Hagrid told me, I didn't know anything about being a wizard or about my parents or Voldemort"**

**Ron gasped.**

**"What?" said Harry.**

**"You said You-Know-Who's name!" said Ron, sounding both shocked and impressed. "I'd have thought you, of all people -"**

"Exactly, if I can face him when I'm one, eleven, twelve and fourteen and come out alive I've no reason to be afraid of a name," Harry declared.

Prongs, Evans, Padfoot, Moony, Charlus, Dorea, James, Lily, Sirius, Remus, Arthur and Molly froze in fear, "He did _WHAT_ at Eleven, Twelve and Fourteen?"

**"I'm not trying to be brave or anything, saying the name," said Harry, "I just never knew you shouldn't. See what I mean? I've got loads to learn... I bet," he added, voicing for the first time something that had been worrying him a lot lately, "I bet I'm the worst in the class."**

"You won't be. There are a lot of people that are muggleborns and those who grow up in wizard houses don't have any real advantage," William said, his wife and the eldest Potters agreeing with him.

**"You won't be. There's loads of people who come from Muggle families and they learn quick enough."**

**While they had been talking, the train had carried them out of London. Now they were speeding past fields full of cows and sheep. They were quiet for a time, watching the fields and lanes flick past.**

**Around half past twelve there was a great clattering outside in the corridor and a smiling, dimpled woman slid back their door and said, "Anything off the cart, dears?"**

"Everything if he's anything like prongs or padfoot," Evans sighed.

Everyone burst out laughing as prongs pouted, padfoot tried to protest the attack on his character and Harry blushed.

**Harry, who hadn't had any breakfast, leapt to his feet, but Ron's ears went pink again and he muttered that he'd brought sandwiches. Harry went out into the corridor.**

**He had never had any money for candy with the Dursleys, and now that he had pockets rattling with gold and silver he was ready to buy as many Mars Bars as he could carry - but the woman didn't have Mars Bars.**

"Muggle sweet," Hermione answered the unasked question.

**What she did have were Bettie Bott's Every Flavor Beans, Drooble's Best Blowing Gum, Chocolate Frogs. Pumpkin Pasties, Cauldron Cakes, Licorice Wands, and a number of other strange things Harry had never seen in his life. Not wanting to miss anything, he got some of everything and paid the woman eleven silver Sickles and seven bronze Knuts.**

Sirius, Remus, padfoot and Moony whistled, "That's a lot of money for sweets."

"And yet, by all accounts, you would spend more for yourselves," Harry teased, laughing as they all went red.

**Ron stared as Harry brought it all back in to the compartment and tipped it onto an empty seat.**

**"Hungry, are you?"**

**"Starving," said Harry, taking a large bite out of a pumpkin pasty.**

**Ron had taken out a lumpy package and unwrapped it. There were four sandwiches inside. He pulled one of them apart and said, "She always forgets I don't like corned beef."**

**"Swap you for one of these," said Harry, holding up a pasty. "Go on -"**

"That's very kind of you Harry," Lily, Evans and Hermione said.

Harry went red and mumbled something.

**"You don't want this, it's all dry," said Ron. "She hasn't got much time," he added quickly, "you know, with five of us."**

**"Go on, have a pasty," said Harry, who had never had anything to share before or, indeed, anyone to share it with.**

"So you two became friends over food?" Lily asked as nearly everyone laughed.

"Yes," Ron and Harry answered together, the twins glared as if to say 'that's our thing'.

**It was a nice feeling, sitting there with Ron, eating their way through all Harry's pasties, cakes, and candies (the sandwiches lay forgotten).**

**"What are these?" Harry asked Ron, holding up a pack of Chocolate Frogs. "They're not really frogs, are they?" He was starting to feel that nothing would surprise him.**

**"No," said Ron. "But see what the card is. I'm missing Agrippa."**

**"What?"**

"I've got six," Moony stated, Ron stared at him, his mouth open in amazement.

He was about to ask (or beg) to trade when Harry spoke up, "Only because you're addicted to chocolate,"

Remus and Moony blushed as their friends laughed.

**"Oh, of course, you wouldn't know - Chocolate Frogs have cards, inside them, you know, to collect - famous witches and wizards. I've got about five hundred, but I haven't got Agrippa or Ptolemy."**

**Harry unwrapped his Chocolate Frog and picked up the card. It showed a man's face. He wore half- moon glasses, had a long, crooked nose, and flowing silver hair, beard, and mustache. Underneath the picture was the name Albus Dumbledore.**

**"So this is Dumbledore!" said Harry.**

**"Don't tell me you'd never heard of Dumbledore!" said Ron. "Can I have a frog? I might get Agrippa - thanks**

**Harry turned over his card and read:**

_**ALBUS DUMBLEDORE**_

_**CURRENTLY HEADMASTER OF HOGWARTS**_

_**Considered by many the greatest wizard of modern times, Dumbledore is particularly famous for his defeat of the dark wizard Grindelwald in 1945, for the discovery of the twelve uses of dragon's blood, and his work on alchemy with his partner, Nicolas Flamel. Professor Dumbledore enjoys chamber music and tenpin bowling.**_

"I still can't believe that after all that, it was on the back of a chocolate frog card," Ron groaned.

"What do you mean?" Remus asked.

"You'll see," Hermione said.

"I hate it when they say that," Sirius said.

**Harry turned the card back over and saw, to his astonishment, that Dumbledore's face had disappeared.**

**"He's gone!"**

"It is pretty odd at first," Lily agreed.

**"Well, you can't expect him to hang around all day," said Ron. "He'll be back. No, I've got Morgana again and I've got about six of her... do you want it? You can start collecting."**

**Ron's eyes strayed to the pile of Chocolate Frogs waiting to be unwrapped.**

**"Help yourself," said Harry. "But in, you know, the Muggle world, people just stay put in photos."**

"Really?" Narcissa asked

**"Do they? What, they don't move at all?" Ron sounded amazed. "weird!"**

"Channelling dad there, Ron?" Bill teased as both went red.

**Harry stared as Dumbledore sidled back into the picture on his card and gave him a small smile. Ron was more interested in eating the frogs than looking at the Famous Witches and Wizards cards, but Harry couldn't keep his eyes off them. **

**Soon he had not only Dumbledore and Morgana, but Hengist of Woodcroft, Alberic Grunnion, Circe, Paracelsus, and Merlin. He finally tore his eyes away from the druidess Cliodna, who was scratching her nose, to open a bag of Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans.**

Dumbledore winced for some reason, Harry smirked at that.

**"You want to be careful with those," Ron warned Harry. "When they say every flavour, they mean every flavor - you know, you get all the ordinary ones like chocolate and peppermint and marmalade, but then you can get spinach and liver and tripe. George reckons he had a boogie- flavoured one once."**

"Eww," Lavender, Evans and Narcissa said as George shuddered violently, Harry however smiled evilly.

"And how do you know what boogies taste like?" Harry asked.

George went weasley red as Fred edged away from him and the girls went, "EWW!"

**Ron picked up a green bean, looked at it carefully, and bit into a corner.**

**"Bleaaargh - see? Sprouts."**

"Don't eat any of the green ones they're usually the bad ones," Sirius advised.

"You mean they're largely vegetables," James corrected.

"Exactly," Sirius said.

**They had a good time eating the Every Flavor Beans. Harry got toast, coconut, baked bean, strawberry, curry, grass, coffee, sardine, and was even brave enough to nibble the end off a funny gray one Ron wouldn't touch, which turned out to be pepper.**

"Brave of you," padfoot commented.

**The countryside now flying past the window was becoming wilder. The neat fields had gone. Now there were woods, twisting rivers, and dark green hills.**

**There was a knock on the door of their compartment and the round-faced boy Harry had passed on platform nine and three quarters came in. He looked tearful.**

"I was always losing him," Neville stated.

**"Sorry," he said, "but have you seen a toad at all?"**

**When they shook their heads, he wailed, "I've lost him! He keeps getting away from me!"**

**"He'll turn up," said Harry.**

"You're so kind, Harry," Lily said, making Harry blush.

**"Yes," said the boy miserably. "Well, if you see him..."**

**He left.**

**"Don't know why he's so bothered," said Ron. "If I'd brought a toad I'd lose it as quick as I could. Mind you, I brought Scabbers, so I can't talk."**

**The rat was still snoozing on Ron's lap, like how Luna was on Harry's lap.**

**"He might have died and you wouldn't know the difference," said Ron in disgust. "I tried to turn him yellow yesterday to make him more interesting, but the spell didn't work. I'll show you, look..."**

"**Alright," Harry said, he'd read up about the Colurfors charm but hadn't practised.**

**Ron rummaged around in his trunk and pulled out a very battered-looking wand. It was chipped in places and something white was glinting at the end.**

"Is that my old one?" Charlie asked, shaking his head when his mother nodded. "I got a new one because the tip was damaged, it didn't work properly.

Molly looked horrified at her mistake. But Harry turned to Ron.

"How the hell did you pass two years with a mismatched _AND_ damaged wand?" he demanded.

Ron shrugged as Lily, Hermione and Molly scolded Harry for his language.

**"Unicorn hair's nearly poking out. Anyway"**

**He had just raised his wand when the compartment door slid open again. The toadless boy was back, but this time he had a girl with him. She was already wearing her new Hogwarts robes.**

**"Has anyone seen a toad? Neville's lost one," she said. She had a bossy sort of voice, lots of bushy brown hair, and rather large front teeth. It was Hermione Granger.**

Hermione slapped her boyfriend on the arm for this less flattering description.

**"We've already told him we haven't seen it," said Ron, but the girl wasn't listening, she was looking at the wand in his hand.**

**"Oh, are you doing magic? Let's see it, then."**

"**Take a seat, Hermione, you too, err…"**

"**Neville Longbottom, and Thanks," Neville said**

**They sat down. Ron looked taken aback.**

**"Er - all right."**

**He cleared his throat.**

**"Sunshine, daisies, butter mellow, Turn this stupid, fat rat yellow."**

"I can't believe you fell for that, George said as everyone burst out laughing.

**He waved his wand, but nothing happened. Scabbers stayed gray and fast asleep. Harry wondered if he should try the Colurfors charm.**

**"Are you sure that's a real spell?" said the girl. "Well, it's not very good, is it? I've tried a few simple spells just for practice and it's all worked for me. Nobody in my family's magic at all, it was ever such a surprise when I got my letter, but I was ever so pleased, of course, I mean, it's the very best school of witchcraft there is, I've heard - I've learned all our course books by heart, of course, I just hope it will be enough - I'm Hermione Granger, by the way, who are you.**

**She said all this very fast.**

"Prongs was right, you really can talk Hermione," Alice said as Hermione blushed.

"Who learns the course books off by heart?" Sirius and padfoot asked incredulously.

Hermione, Lily and Evans blushed as they, Moony and Remus admitted they had.

**Harry looked at Ron and Neville, and saw that they seemed relieved that they hadn't learned all the course books by heart either.**

**"I'm Ron Weasley," Ron muttered.**

**"Harry Potter," said Harry.**

**"Harry?" said Hermione. "I thought I saw you when I reached the platform but you disappeared when I called you." Harry noticed she seemed itching to say something.**

"I was, I wasn't sure if the sweet boy I met in the bookshop was the same as this world's hero," Hermione admitted.

Harry smiled at her.

"**I'm sorry, I didn't hear you and I'm sorry I never wrote, but I was busy with my sorting out the changes in my life, and looking after Hedwig and Luna," Harry replied, pointing to the sleeping snowy owl and the wolf cub whose ears he'd been gently scratching for an hour. **

**Hedwig slept on but the cub looked up, as if knowing she'd been mentioned. Luna got up, clambered over Harry's lap and padded up to Hermione and started sniffing her robe inquisitively. Hermione reached out her hand tentatively, Luna sniffed her hand then licked it, padding over and curling up in Hermione's lap.**

"Aww," the girls cooed as Hermione smiled fondly at the memory, that pup could charm anyone.

"**She seems to like you," Harry commented, smiling as Hermione started scratching the cub's ears as it rested in her lap.**

**Hermione smiled nervously before continuing; "You know you're mentioned in a few books? **_**Modern Magical History**_** and **_**The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts**_**," she said.**

"**Don't see how they could be accurate," Harry replied. "I wasn't around to provide input and even if I was, I can't remember anything from that night," he replied simply. **

**"Goodness, didn't you know, I'd have found out everything I could if it was me," said Hermione. **

"**No, it just reminds me of the cost of ten years of peace," Harry said quietly, tears prickling in his eyes.**

"I saw those, I wanted nothing more than to hug you and say it would be ok, but I couldn't" Hermione told him quietly. Harry hugged her and kissed her hair, thanking her.

**The other three seemed uncomfortable at that, well Neville and Hermione looked uncomfortable and Ron was oblivious, although Neville seemed to give Harry an understanding look.**

Ron blushed hard as his friends and family shook their heads fondly.

**Harry shook his head and changed the subject. "Hermione, can you show me your tie for a moment, I saw a colour change charm in the textbook and I would like to try it?"**

"**Ok," she said, pulling her tie out of her jumper, she disturbed Luna with the movement and the cub looked up to see why.**

**Harry drew his wand from the bracer one his arm and aimed at Hermione's tie, he learned in a Transfiguration book that visualising the object, how you wanted it to change and the change itself in your mind improved the performance of the spell.**

James and prongs nodded, that technique went a long way to improving spellwork.

**Harry pictured Hermione's tie and pictured it in the gold and scarlet strips of the tie the prefect he'd seen on the platform wear. "**_**Colurfors**_**," he said, performing the swish and flick wand movement.**

**Hermione's tie glowed faintly before the inky black changed to uniform red and gold stripes.**

"**Wow," Neville and Hermione said softly as she examined her tie. Luna was looking between Hermione and her tie before turning to Harry with a yip and a look saying 'how did you do that?'**

"That dog is pretty smart," someone commented.

"**That's amazing Harry," Hermione said, looking at him in awe as he blushed.**

"**It's nothing you wouldn't find in a book," Harry replied.**

"So modest," Lily said proudly, while Sirius padfoot and prongs shook their heads.

**"Do either of you know what house you'll be in? I've been asking around, and I hope I'm in Gryffindor, it sounds by far the best; I hear Dumbledore himself was in it, but I suppose Ravenclaw wouldn't be too bad... Anyway, we'd better go and look for Neville's toad. You two had better change, you know, I expect we'll be there soon."**

**And she left, taking Neville with her.**

**"Whatever house I'm in, I hope she's not in it," said Ron.**

"Ron!" Molly exclaimed.

"I was a jerk, I have no excuse and I apologised soon after," Ron replied.

"**That wasn't nice Ron, she's just trying to fit in. Perhaps trying a little too hard but she means well," Harry said, he found Hermione to be a nice girl but a little full on, he hoped she'd mellow out a bit after a few weeks.**

Lily and Evans smiled at Harry as Hermione cuddled up to him again.

**He threw his wand back into his trunk. "Stupid spell - George gave it to me, bet he knew it was a dud."**

**"What house are your brothers in?" asked Harry.**

**"Gryffindor," said Ron. Gloom seemed to be settling on him again. "Mom and Dad were in it, too. I don't know what they'll say if I'm not. I don't suppose Ravenclaw would be too bad, but imagine if they put me in Slytherin."**

**"That's the house Vol-, I mean, You-Know-Who was in?"**

"I forgot you used to not say the name either," Hermione said.

"I didn't want to make people uncomfortable," Harry shrugged.

"So thoughtful," one of the girls said as Lily and James smiled

**"Yeah," said Ron. He flopped back into his seat, looking depressed.**

**"You know, I think the ends of Scabbers' whiskers are a bit lighter," said Harry, trying to take Ron's mind off houses.**

Again everyone smiled at Harry, but Fred decided to ask about something that had been bugging him.

"How can you be so polite when you live with the Dursleys?" Fred asked, making everyone wonder the same thing.

"I saw what they did and did the opposite," Harry shrugged.

**"So what do your oldest brothers do now that they've left, anyway?"**

**Harry was wondering what a wizard did once he'd finished school.**

**"Charlie's in Romania studying dragons, and Bill's in Africa doing something for Gringotts," said Ron. "Did you hear about Gringotts? It's been all over the Daily Prophet, but I don't suppose you get that with the Muggles - someone tried to rob a high security vault."**

"What?!" nearly everyone yelled.

**Harry stared.**

**"Really? What happened to them?"**

**"Nothing, that's why it's such big news. They haven't been caught. My dad says it must've been a powerful Dark wizard to get round Gringotts, but they don't think they took anything, that's what's odd. 'Course, everyone gets scared when something like this happens in case You-Know-Who's behind it."**

"Sweet Merlin," Prongs muttered.

**Harry turned this news over in his mind. He was starting to get a prickle of fear every time You- Know-Who was mentioned. He supposed this was all part of entering the magical world, but it had been a lot more comfortable saying "Voldemort" without worrying.**

**"What's your Quidditch team?" Ron asked.**

James, prongs and padfoot straightened up at that.

**"Er - I don't know any," Harry confessed.**

The three again looked like they'd been injured.

"Puddlemere United," Harry informed them, missing the exchange of gold between them and their friends and the smug looks on Moony and Frank's faces.

**"What!" Ron looked dumbfounded. "Oh, you wait, it's the best game in the world -" And he was off, explaining all about the four balls and the positions of the seven players, describing famous games he'd been to with his brothers and the broomstick he'd like to get if he had the money. He was just taking Harry through the finer points of the game when the compartment door slid open yet again, but it wasn't Neville the toadless boy, or Hermione Granger this time.**

"Will I be known as the toadless boy the whole story?" Neville asked.

"Not much longer," Harry replied.

**Three boys entered, and Harry recognized the middle one at once: it was the pale boy from Madam Malkin's robe shop.**

Everyone looked like they were trying to guess the boy's identity.

**He was looking at Harry with a lot more interest than he'd shown back in Diagon Alley.**

**"Is it true?" he said. "They're saying all down the train that Harry Potter's in this compartment. So it's you, is it?"**

"Who talked?" Harry asked annoyed.

The twins ducked their heads and mumbled an apology.

**"Yes," said Harry. He was looking at the other boys. Both of them were thickset and looked extremely mean. Standing on either side of the pale boy, they looked like bodyguards.**

"They are," Ron muttered.

**"Oh, this is Crabbe and this is Goyle," said the pale boy carelessly, noticing where Harry was looking. "And my name's Malfoy, Draco Malfoy."**

"Oh Merlin!" Lucius exclaimed as everyone looked at him and padfoot sniggered.

**Ron gave a slight cough, which might have been hiding a snigger. Draco Malfoy looked at him.**

**"Think my name's funny, do you? No need to ask who you are. My father told me all the Weasleys have red hair, freckles, and more children than they can afford."**

The room echoed from the indignant shouting in defence of the Weasley family. Lucius and Narcissa looked very angry and ashamed of their son.

**He turned back to Harry. "You'll soon find out some wizarding families are much better than others, Potter. You don't want to go making friends with the wrong sort. I can help you there."**

**He held out his hand to shake Harry's,**

"Don't take it, Harry," James, Sirius, Remus, prongs, padfoot and Moony said. Evans, Lily, Severus and Regulus didn't voice it but had a look on their faces that said they agreed.

**but Harry didn't take it.**

"Good boy, Harry," James and Sirius said.

"What am I, a dog?" Harry asked, making the two apologise.

**"I think I can tell who the wrong sort are for myself, thanks," he said coolly.**

**Draco Malfoy didn't go red, but a pink tinge appeared in his pale cheeks.**

**"I'd be careful if I were you, Potter," he said slowly. "Unless you're a bit politer you'll go the same way as your parents.**

"He did not just say that," Remus growled dangerously, his eyes a solid gold.

Everyone else was in a similar state of fury, even Lucius and Narcissa.

**They didn't know what was good for them, either. You hang around with riffraff like the Weasleys and that Hagrid, and it'll rub off on you."**

There was a yell and several targets appeared, the next twenty minutes were spent hexing them all with each destroyed target being replaced.

**Both Harry and Ron stood up.**

**"Say that again," Ron said, his face as red as his hair.**

**"Oh, you're going to fight us, are you?" Malfoy sneered, although Harry thought he saw a hint of fear in Malfoy's eyes.**

"Probably" someone muttered.

**"Unless you get out now," said Harry, more bravely than he felt, Crabbe and Goyle were a lot bigger than him or Ron although he did have an advantage due to fighting his cousin's gang and he couldn't be sure the spells he'd practiced would be enough.**

"Maybe, maybe not," Sirius said evenly.

**"But we don't feel like leaving, do we, boys? We've eaten all our food and you still seem to have some."**

"Hey! Paws off," prongs shouted.

"Arrogant git!" padfoot muttered.

**Goyle reached toward the Chocolate Frogs next to Ron - Ron leapt forward, but before he'd so much as touched Goyle, Goyle let out a horrible yell.**

"What happened?"

**Scabbers the rat was hanging off his finger, sharp little teeth sunk deep into Goyle's knuckle - Crabbe and Malfoy backed away as Goyle swung Scabbers round and round, howling, and when Scabbets finally flew off and hit the window, all three of them disappeared at once.**

"I hope he's ok," Molly and Evans said, missing the dark looks on some people's faces.

**Perhaps they thought there were more rats lurking among the sweets, or perhaps they'd heard footsteps, because a second later, Hermione Granger had come in.**

"Why were you back?" Lily asked.

Hermione went red and mumbled something.

**"What has been going on?" she said, looking at the sweets all over the floor and Ron picking up Scabbers by his tail.**

"Ron!" Molly exclaimed but he ignored her.

**I think he's been knocked out," Ron said to Harry. He looked closer at Scabbers. "No - I don't believe it - he's gone back to sleep-"**

"What!"

**And so he had.**

"Only useful thing he ever did," Ron muttered, as Prongs padfoot and moony were thinking that rat sounded a lot like Peter when he transformed.

**"You've met Malfoy before?"**

"Unfortunately," Harry muttered.

**Harry explained about their meeting in Diagon Alley.**

**"I've heard of his family," said Ron darkly. "They were some of the first to come back to our side after You-Know-Who disappeared. Said they'd been bewitched. My dad doesn't believe it. He says Malfoy's father didn't need an excuse to go over to the Dark Side."**

Lucius looked very worried, as did his betrothed and friends while Arthur was fighting to keep from glaring at the younger version of his enemy.

**He turned to Hermione. "Can we help you with something?"**

"Ron, manners," Molly scolded.

**"You'd better hurry up and put your robes on, I've just been up to the front to ask the conductor, and he says we're nearly there. You haven't been fighting, have you? You'll be in trouble before we even get there!"**

"I was so bossy back then," Hermione moaned, hiding her face in Harry's chest in embarrassment.

"You mellowed out a bit soon enough," Harry told her, smiling.

**"Scabbers has been fighting, not us," said Ron, scowling at her. "Would you mind leaving while we change?"**

"Ron!"

"Yeah, don't…"

"…be so rude."

"Since when are you two considerate?"

"Since Angelina and Alicia agreed to go out with them"

"Hey!"

**"All right - I only came in here because people outside are behaving very childishly, racing up and down the corridors," said Hermione in a sniffy voice. **

"They're behaving childishly because they are children" Lily said gently.

**"And you've got dirt on your nose, by the way, did you know?"**

"ARGH!" Ron growled as his friend's laughed.

**Ron glared at her as she left. Harry peered out of the window. It was getting dark. He could see mountains and forests under a deep purple sky. The train did seem to be slowing down.**

**He and Ron took off their jackets and pulled on their long black robes. Ron's were a bit short for him, you could see his sneakers underneath them.**

"Over observant git," Ron muttered annoyed as everyone laughed.

**A voice echoed through the train: "We will be reaching Hogwarts in five minutes' time. Please leave your luggage on the train, it will be taken to the school separately."**

"Do you think that's the driver or a recording?"

**Harry's stomach lurched with nerves and Ron, he saw, looked pale under his freckles. **

"Over observant git," Ron repeated as Lavender giggled

**They crammed their pockets with the last of the sweets**

"Must have been a lot of sweets."

**and joined the crowd thronging the corridor.**

**The train slowed right down and finally stopped. People pushed their way toward the door and out on to a tiny, dark platform. Harry shivered in the cold night air. Then a lamp came bobbing over the heads of the students, and Harry heard a familiar voice: "Firs' years! Firs' years over here! All right there, Harry?"**

"Hagrid"

**Hagrid's big hairy face beamed over the sea of heads.**

**"C'mon, follow me - any more firs' years? Mind yer step, now! Firs' years follow me!"**

Everyone seemed lost in their memories of seeing Hogwarts for the first time.

**Slipping and stumbling, they followed Hagrid down what seemed to be a steep, narrow path. It was so dark on either side of them that Harry thought there must be thick trees there. Nobody spoke much. Neville, the boy who kept losing his toad, sniffed once or twice.**

**"Ye' all get yer firs' sight o' Hogwarts in a sec," Hagrid called over his shoulder, "jus' round this bend here."**

**There was a loud "Oooooh!"**

"It's amazing the first time," Lily said fondly. Everyone nodded or murmured in agreement.

**The narrow path had opened suddenly onto the edge of a great black take. Perched atop a high mountain on the other side, its windows sparkling in the starry sky, was a vast castle with many turrets and towers.**

"A beautiful sight," Prongs said.

**"No more'n four to a boat!" Hagrid called, pointing to a fleet of little boats sitting in the water by the shore. Harry and Ron were followed into their boat by Neville and Hermione. "Everyone in?" shouted Hagrid, who had a boat to himself. "Right then - FORWARD!"**

**And the fleet of little boats moved off all at once, gliding across the lake, which was as smooth as glass. Everyone was silent, staring up at the great castle overhead. It towered over them as they sailed nearer and nearer to the cliff on which it stood.**

**"Heads down!" yelled Hagrid as the first boats reached the cliff; they all bent their heads and the little boats carried them through a curtain of ivy that hid a wide opening in the cliff face. **

Prongs, padfoot, James and Sirius suddenly blushed and looked down sheepishly while Moony and Remus glared and Lily, Evans and Severus smirked at them.

"What happened?" Harry asked exasperatedly.

"Those two were messing around in the boat and missed the warning. They were standing up looking over the side for the squid and got caught on the ivy. They dragged me into the lake with them," Remus told them unhappily, as the four looked very ashamed of themselves while everyone laughed.

**They were carried along a dark tunnel, which seemed to be taking them right underneath the castle, until they reached a kind of underground harbor, where they clambered out onto rocks and pebbles.**

**"Oy, you there! Is this your toad?" said Hagrid, who was checking the boats as people climbed out of them.**

**"Trevor!" cried Neville blissfully, holding out his hands. Then they clambered up a passageway in the rock after Hagrid's lamp, coming out at last onto smooth, damp grass right in the shadow of the castle.**

**They walked up a flight of stone steps and crowded around the huge, Oak front door.**

**"Everyone here? You there, still got yer toad?"**

**Hagrid raised a gigantic fist and knocked three times on the castle door.**

"That's it," Alice said, marking the page and closing the book.

"I think we should stop for a while, get something to eat while Harry and Neville talk to their parents," Remus suggested.

The crowd broke up into groups as everyone agreed, Neville and his parents went to one dorm while Harry led Lily and James to another.


	9. Chapter 9-The Sorting Hat

The Sorting Hat

Harry followed his parents into one of the dorms as Neville led his parents into a second.

Everyone sat in small groups and began talking to each other, even getting to know people they never would have under normal circumstances, except for Padfoot and Marlene who were kissing on one of the couches.

Hermione was enjoying her talk with Evans when Neville, Alice and Frank came back; all three looked like they'd been crying.

Evans and Marlene went with the marauders to check on Alice and Frank while Neville re-joined his friends, Ginny hugging him as he sat down beside her.

Harry came out a few minutes later, his parents remaining in the room for some reason, with a dazed, faraway look on his face and his eyes slightly glazed over.

Remus and Sirius shared a look and got up, they knew that look, it was the same one James had when Lily told him she was pregnant with Harry and they remembered what happened afterward.

"Harry, are you alright?" Hermione asked as he stopped behind her chair, gazing unseeingly at the ceiling.

"Huh" Harry mumbled as her voice brought him back to earth, "Yeah, mum and dad told me something a little surprising, that's all" he replied, just before his eyes rolled into his head and Sirius and Remus had to catch him.

The two laid him on Hermione's chair, which had been transfigured into a coach, smiling fondly as they remembered James' reaction all those years ago.

Lily and James came in as Hermione settled next to her boyfriend, their worry turning to amusement as Remus explained what had happened.

Harry came round just as there was another bright flash and three people were left standing in the middle of the room.

The first two were a man and a woman about Remus' age, the second was a skinny red haired girl with pale skin and hazel eyes behind round glasses.

"Mum! Dad!" Hermione said in surprise, she got up and went to her parents as Lily and James greeted their nervous daughter.

"So, who's this?" Sirius asked, he'd know Lily was expecting when she died but had never heard any names discussed.

"This is our daughter, Harry's sister, Violet Lily Potter," James said proudly, smiling at Violet.

"Hi" Violet said shyly. Everyone, including Harry, took a close look at her; she resembled her mother quite closely, being roughly the same height as Lily at 14, he body was roughly the same shape as well (curvy but not overly so), she had her mother's face, pale skin and fiery red hair but James's hazel eyes behind round glasses. She was also the same height as Harry at this point.

"Where'd you like to sit, Violet?" Harry asked, gesturing to the empty seats. Violet glanced around before settling into the seat between Harry and their parents.

Lily and James sat down and the group began talking again, Violet was content to listen at first but slowly began joining in.

A few minutes later, Hermione returned with her parents, "Everyone, I'd like you to meet my parents," Hermione said, smiling nervously.

"Hello, I'm Daniel and this is my wife Emma, you already know my daughter," Dan said, smiling but his eyes narrowed a little as Hermione sat down next to Harry. Emma smiled a little at her husband as introductions were made, they may like Harry but all fathers are protective of 'their little girls'.

"Who's going to read now?" Sirius asked as everyone settled again.

"Me," Narcissa said, taking the book from the table.

"**THE SORTING HAT," **Narcissa began.

Everyone grinned as they realised they'd hear of the kid's first night in Hogwarts.

**The door swung open at once. A tall, black-haired witch in emerald-green robes stood there. She had a very stern face and Harry's first thought was that this was not someone to cross.**

"Then why do you continue to do so?" both McGonagall's sighed, McGonagall looking at Prongs, Padfoot and Moony while Minerva gave Harry, Hermione, Ron and Neville the exact same disapproving and exasperated look.

"What's the fun in behaving?" Prongs and padfoot asked as Marlene watched in amusement as Evans and moony shook their heads.

"Sometimes there are more important things to do," Harry said, Hermione and Ron shot him a look at the hint of defiance in his voice which neither his parents, godfather, godwolf, Minerva or Molly failed to miss.

**"The firs' years, Professor McGonagall," said Hagrid.**

**"Thank you, Hagrid. I will take them from here."**

**She pulled the door wide. The entrance hall was so big you could have fit the whole of the Dursleys' house in it.**

"No!" Minerva, Molly and Lily said sharply as Fred, George, Harry and James' eyes lit up.

Violet and Hermione giggled as Harry huffed in annoyance while the twins and James pouted at their mother/wife.

**The stone walls were lit with flaming torches like the ones at Gringotts, the ceiling was too high to make out, and a magnificent marble staircase facing them led to the upper floors.**

Hermione sighed as she leaned into her boyfriend, momentarily getting lost in the memory of her sorting just like several other people.

**They followed Professor McGonagall across the flagged stone floor. Harry could hear the drone of hundreds of voices from behind a door to the right -the rest of the school must already be here - but Professor McGonagall stopped the first years short of the doors. They crowded together, standing rather closer together than they would usually have done, peering about nervously.**

Harry cleared his throat, "Welcome to Hogwarts."

"The start of term feast is about to begin, you will go through these doors and join your classmates," Ron continued.

"But before you can take your seats, you have to be sorted into your houses," Neville picked up.

"The four houses are, Gryffindor," Hermione added.

"Hufflepuff," said Lavender.

"Ravenclaw," Charlie piped up

"And Slytherin," Bill said.

"Each house has its own noble history and has produced outstanding witches and wizards." George said.

"Now, while you are here, your house will be something like your family," Fred contributed.

"While you are at Hogwarts, your triumphs will earn you house points, any rule breaking will lose house points," Tonks continued, looking at Harry, Ron, Hermione and Neville in the _EXACT_ same disapproving manner Minerva gave all petty rule breakers that were caught, making them and both sets of marauders flinch at the perfect delivery of the look they had seen so many times.  
They all missed both McGonagall's shoot Tonks the same look as their colleagues tried hard not to burst out laughing

"At the end of the year, the house with the most points will be awarded the house cup," Bill, took over.

"I hope that each of you will be a credit to whichever house becomes yours," Charlie said.

"The Sorting Ceremony will take place in a few minutes in front of the rest of the school. I suggest you all smarten yourselves up as much as you can while you are waiting," they all finished together.

Everyone laughed as both McGonagall's gave the students a stunned look.

"Isn't that the _EXACT _same speech she gave us and the following six years, Remus?" James asked his friend.

"I have better things to do than write a new speech every year, besides you are only meant to hear it once," McGonagall said, glaring at both versions of her, admittedly, favourite student.

**"Welcome to Hogwarts," said Professor McGonagall. "The start-of-term feast is about to begin, you will go through these doors and join your classmates, but before you take your seats in the Great Hall, you will be sorted into your houses. The four houses are called Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. Each house has its own noble history and each has produced outstanding witches and wizards. Now, while you are here, your house will be something like your family within Hogwarts. **

**While you are at Hogwarts, your triumphs will earn your house points, while any rule breaking will lose house points.**

**At the end of the year, the house with the most points is awarded the house cup.**

**I hope each of you will be a credit to whichever house becomes yours.**

**"The Sorting Ceremony will take place in a few minutes in front of the rest of the school. I suggest you all smarten yourselves up as much as you can while you are waiting."**

There was a round of laughter as both McGonagall's went pink and glared at the teens.

**Her eyes lingered for a moment on Neville's cloak, which was fastened under his left ear,**

"How did you do that?" Ron asked curiously as Alice blushed and her friends chuckled.

Neville shrugged before turning to the people laughing, "What's so funny?"

"Alice did the same thing her first time off the train," Frank answered, smiling.

**and on Ron's smudged nose.**

Ron made an angry noise as Lavender giggled, Harry turned to the twins, "Alright, who charmed it not to come off?"

The twins shared a shocked look before shrugging and making their best attempt to give a 'we're innocent' look, something everyone who knew them snorted at.

There was an odd noise that drew everyone's attention to Ginny, whose face was pink for someone reason and looked sheepish. Harry put the pieces together quicker than expected.

"That was you?" he asked incredulously, Ron did a double take as his sister went from pink to Weasley red.

"I was annoyed, you kept going on about going to Hogwarts, I felt left out, left behind," Ginny explained, Ron hugged her in response.

**Harry nervously tried to flatten his hair.**

"Not going to work," Hermione, Evans and Lily teased.

**He managed to make it lie flat and relatively tidy for a whole second, lowering his hands when it stayed still, before it popped back up into its usual crow's nest, making Hermione and a golden brown haired girl next to her burst out in quiet giggles.**

Harry glared at the two as they burst into giggles again at the memory, James and Lily smiled.

**"I shall return when we are ready for you," said Professor McGonagall, Harry could have sworn her lips twitched slightly. "Please wait quietly."**

"I was reminded of your father for a moment, he had a habit of trying to flatten his hair when nervous in his first year," Minerva explained.

**She left the chamber. Harry swallowed.**

**"How exactly do they sort us into houses?" he asked Ron.**

**"Some sort of test, I think. Fred said it hurts a lot,**

"Fred! What were you thinking? Telling your brother that!"

"Charlie did the same to me!" Fred retorted indignantly.

"Oh Crap!" Charlie exclaimed, suddenly wishing he could run away from his angry and glaring mother.

"Charles!"

**but I think he was joking."**

"Do you believe everything we say?" Fred asked.

"You tell the truth often enough we can't tell when you aren't, it took us two years before we learnt to never believe you say without proof," Harry told him.

**Harry's heart gave a horrible jolt. A test? In front of the whole school? But he didn't know any magic yet - what on earth would he have to do? He hadn't expected something like this the moment they arrived. **

"We wouldn't test you," Horace said gently.

**He looked around anxiously and saw that everyone else looked terrified, too. No one was talking much except Hermione Granger, who was whispering very fast about all the spells she'd learned and wondering which one she'd need.**

"That really didn't help," Ron groaned.

Hermione blushed and mumbled an apology.

**Harry tried hard not to listen to her, but it was no use. He looked over and noticed that her talking was making everyone else nervous too. He walked over and placed a hand on her shoulder, surprising her but getting her attention. **

"**They won't test us on our knowledge or ability, they'll probably sort us based on personality and try to place us with people we'll get along with," Harry said gently but confidently (sounding far more confident than he felt anyway, especially with the way his stomach felt like it was doing a backflip when she looked straight into his eyes), "Don't panic and everything will be alright."**

Harry blushed a little as Hermione gave him a small smile from where she cuddled up to his side as their friends grinned and the adults looked at them curiously.

**Hermione stared at him, biting her lip for a moment, then nodded and looked back toward the doors as Harry took his hand off her shoulder and went back to where Ron stood.**

"**Thanks, she was making me worry," Ron told him in a tone that said he didn't like the girl. **

There was a loud hissing from several women as Ron flinch and blushed from his past behaviour.

**Harry gave Ron a quick glare for his comment before turning to look at the doors as he waited.**

**He'd never been more nervous, never, not even when he'd had to take a school report home to the Dursleys saying that he'd somehow turned his teacher's wig blue.**

"Nice," the twins and marauders said.

Snape suddenly jerked and fixed Harry with a stare that drew Lily, James, Sirius and Remus' attention.

Harry paled as he remembered the prank he played on Snape just before Christmas that year.

**He kept his eyes fixed on the door. Any second now, Professor McGonagall would come back and lead him to his doom.**

"Pessimist," the twins said.

"You would be too, if you'd grown up with my _'Guardians'_," Harry shot back, nearly hissing the last word.

Dan, Emma and Violet looked confused as the twins flinched and apologised.

**Then something happened that made him jump about a foot in the air - several people behind him screamed.**

"What is it?" Violet asked, bouncing slightly in her seat in her curiosity as she looked between her parents, brother, 'uncles' and her brothers friends.

**"What the -?"**

**He gasped. So did the people around him. About twenty ghosts had just streamed through the back wall. Pearly-white and slightly transparent, they glided across the room talking to one another and hardly glancing at the first years. They seemed to be arguing.**

"Is it me, or does that seem rehearsed?" Charlie asked, pretending to wonder as his family laughed.

**What looked like a fat little monk was saying: "Forgive and forget, I say, we ought to give him a second chance -"**

"still the same," padfoot laughed.

**"My dear Friar, haven't we given Peeves all the chances he deserves? He gives us all a bad name and you know, he's not really even a ghost - I say, what are you all doing here?"**

"Freezing our b – "

"Harry!"

" – off waiting to be sorted."

**A ghost wearing a ruff and tights had suddenly noticed the first years.**

**Nobody answered.**

**"New students!" said the Fat Friar, smiling around at them. "About to be Sorted, I suppose?"**

**A few people nodded mutely.**

"Scared?" James teased.

"You were shaking," Sirius pointed out.

"So were we," Remus added as James blushed, "We fell in the lake remember."

**"Hope to see you in Hufflepuff!" said the Friar. "My old house, you know."**

**"Move along now," said a sharp voice. "The Sorting Ceremony's about to start."**

**Professor McGonagall had returned. One by one, the ghosts floated away through the opposite wall.**

"That's annoying at times," someone muttered.

**"Now, form a line," Professor McGonagall told the first years, "and follow me."**

**Feeling oddly as though his legs had turned to lead, Harry got into line behind a boy with sandy hair, with Ron behind him, and they walked out of the chamber, back across the hall, and through a pair of double doors into the Great Hall.**

**Harry had never even imagined such a strange and splendid place.**

**It was lit by thousands and thousands of candles that were floating in midair over four long tables, where the rest of the students were sitting. These tables were laid with glittering golden plates and goblets. At the top of the hall was another long table where the teachers were sitting. Professor McGonagall led the first years up here, so that they came to a halt in a line facing the other students, with the teachers behind them. The hundreds of faces staring at them looked like pale lanterns in the flickering candlelight. Dotted here and there among the students, the ghosts shone misty silver. Mainly to avoid all the staring eyes, Harry looked upward and saw a velvety black ceiling dotted with stars.**

"He even hated the staring then," Lavender said quietly.

**He heard Hermione whisper, "It's bewitched to look like the sky outside. I read about it in Hogwarts, A History."**

Both sets of marauders and their friends burst out laughing as Evans and Lily went scarlet.

"Lily said the same thing at our sorting," James explained, as he tried to get his laughter under control.

**It was hard to believe there was a ceiling there at all, and that the Great Hall didn't simply open on to the heavens.**

Snape and Minerva exchanged a sharp look before staring at Harry and the twins in undisguised surprise.

"You didn't?" Prongs asked, in awe of such an amazing prank (and feat of magic).

"The Yule Ball in fourth year, it took us a week to prepare the wards to keep the weather out, no one noticed until the Aurora Borealis appeared at midnight," Harry explained, the twins nodding in agreement.

Everyone was so amazed at what these three had pulled off, Lily and Molly forgot to reprimand them.

**Harry quickly looked down again as Professor McGonagall silently placed a four-legged stool in front of the first years. **

**On top of the stool she put a pointed wizard's hat. This hat was patched and frayed and extremely dirty. Aunt Petunia wouldn't have let it in the house.**

"No, you cannot take the hat to Privet Drive," Minerva said as the twins perked up.

"Athis would never forgive us, he'd send our kids to Slytherin to spite us," Harry added.

Hermione turned to him in curiosity, "Athis?"

"You didn't think the hat didn't have a name?" Harry asked making her look sheepish for not thinking of that.

**Maybe they had to try and get a rabbit out of it, Harry thought wildly,**

"What?" several purebloods asked.

"Muggle illusion," Emma explained.

**that seemed the sort of thing - noticing that everyone in the hall was now staring at the hat, he stared at it, too. For a few seconds, there was complete silence. Then the hat twitched. A rip near the brim opened wide like a mouth - and the hat began to sing:**

"Sing 'Cissa," Padfoot shouted.

Narcissa glared at him but sang anyway.

_**"Oh, you may not think I'm pretty,**_

_**But don't judge on what you see,**_

_**I'll eat myself if you can find**_

_**A smarter hat than me.**_

_**You can keep your bowlers black,**_

_**Your top hats sleek and tall,**_

_**For I'm the Hogwarts Sorting Hat**_

_**And I can cap them all.**_

_**There's nothing hidden in your head**_

_**The Sorting Hat can't see,**_

_**So try me on and I will tell you**_

_**Where you ought to be.**_

_**You might belong in Gryffindor,**_

_**Where dwell the brave at heart,**_

_**Their daring, nerve, and chivalry Set Gryffindors apart;**_

_**You might belong in Hufflepuff,**_

_**Where they are just and loyal,**_

_**Those patient Hufflepuffis are true And unafraid of toil;**_

_**Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw,**_

_**if you've a ready mind,**_

_**Where those of wit and learning,**_

_**Will always find their kind;**_

_**Or perhaps in Slytherin**_

_**You'll make your real friends,**_

_**Those cunning folk use any means**_

_**To achieve their ends.**_

_**So put me on! Don't be afraid!**_

_**And don't get in a flap!**_

_**You're in safe hands (though I have none)**_

_**For I'm a Thinking Cap!"**_

"You have a beautiful voice," Harry commented as everyone applauded, making Narcissa go pink.

**The whole hall burst into applause as the hat finished its song. It bowed to each of the four tables and then became quite still again.**

**"So we've just got to try on the hat!" Ron whispered to Harry. "I'll kill Fred, he was going on about wrestling a troll."**

Harry, Hermione and Neville gave Ron an odd look.

"What?" James asked in alarm.

"Nothing," the three said.

Lily, James, Sirius and Remus looked at them, clearly not believing them.

**Harry smiled weakly. Yes, trying on the hat was a lot better than having to do a spell, but he did wish they could have tried it on without everyone watching.**

"I know what you mean," someone muttered.

**The hat seemed to be asking rather a lot; Harry didn't feel brave or quick-witted or any of it at the moment. If only the hat had mentioned a house for people who felt a bit queasy, that would have been the one for him.**

"Everyone would be sent there," Tonks laughed.

**Professor McGonagall now stepped forward holding a long roll of parchment.**

**"When I call your name, you will put on the hat and sit on the stool to be sorted," she said. **

**"Abbott, Hannah!"**

**A pink-faced girl with blonde pigtails stumbled out of line, put on the hat, which fell right down over her eyes, and sat down. A moment's pause – "HUFFLEPUFF!" shouted the hat.**

There were several cheers, Tonks being the loudest.

**The table on the right cheered and clapped as Hannah went to sit down at the Hufflepuff table. Harry saw the ghost of the Fat Friar waving merrily at her.**

**"Bones, Susan!"**

**"HUFFLEPUFF!" shouted the hat again, and Susan scuttled off to sit next to Hannah.**

**"Boot, Terry!"**

**"RAVENCLAW!"**

There were another few cheers but not many as the list went on.

**The table second from the left clapped this time; several Ravenclaws stood up to shake hands with Terry as he joined them.**

**"Brocklehurst, Mandy" went to Ravenclaw too, but "Brown, Lavender" became the first new Gryffindor,**

Her friends cheered as Ron kissed her cheek.

**and the table on the far left exploded with cheers; Harry could see Ron's twin brothers catcalling.**

**"Bulstrode, Millicent" then became a Slytherin. Perhaps it was Harry's imagination, after all he'd heard about Slytherin, but he thought they looked like an unpleasant lot.**

"They are," padfoot said before he added "I mean, some of them are," as the Slytherins present glared at him..

Harry and his friends laughed as padfoot tried to hide from the glares.

**He was starting to feel definitely sick now. He remembered being picked for teams during gym at his old school. He had always been last to be chosen, not because he was no good, but because no one wanted Dudley to think they liked him.**

There were several loud growls while Emma and Violet gasped and Dan stared in disbelief.

**"Finch-Fletchley, Justin!"**

**"HUFFLEPUFF!"**

**Sometimes, Harry noticed, the hat shouted out the house at once, but at others it took a little while to decide. "Finnigan, Seamus," the sandy-haired boy next to Harry in the line, sat on the stool for almost a whole minute before the hat declared him a Gryffindor**

**"Granger, Hermione!"**

Dan and Emma straightened as their daughter's name came up.

**Hermione almost ran to the stool and jammed the hat eagerly on her head.**

"Over observant prat," Hermione muttered as she buried her red face in Harry's chest.

Harry grinned sheepishly and mumbled an apology.

**"GRYFFINDOR!" shouted the hat.**

Harry cheered the loudest among their friends and the Weasley's.

**Ron groaned.**

"Sorry," Ron managed to say as Lavender slapped the back of his head and Harry chucked a pillow at him.

"I forgave both of you years ago," Hermione shrugged off.

"That doesn't mean we weren't wrong in the first place," Harry told her

**A horrible thought struck Harry, as horrible thoughts always do when you're very nervous. What if he wasn't chosen at all? What if he just sat there with the hat over his eyes for ages, until Professor McGonagall jerked it off his head and said there had obviously been a mistake and he'd better get back on the train?**

"That's never happened," Dumbledore said.

**When Neville Longbottom, the boy who kept losing his toad, was called, he fell over on his way to the stool. **

Alice blushed as her friends laughed.

**The hat took a long time to decide with Neville. When it finally shouted, "GRYFFINDOR," Neville ran off still wearing it, and had to jog back amid gales of laughter to give it to "MacDougal, Morag."**

Now the marauders were roaring with laughter, even Evans and Marlene were openly laughing as Alice buried her face in Frank's chest.

The older version were laughing as well but Remus was able to eplain that Alice had had been the _EXACT_ same.

**Malfoy swaggered forward when his name was called and got his wish at once: the hat had barely touched his head when it screamed, "SLYTHERIN!"**

"Didn't want to touch his slimy… OW!"

"Not the time"

**Malfoy went to join his friends Crabbe and Goyle, looking pleased with himself.**

**There weren't many people left now. "Moon" "Nott" "Parkinson" then a pair of twin girls, "Patil" and "Patil" then "Perks, Sally-Anne" and then, at last - "Potter, Harry!"**

**As Harry stepped forward, whispers suddenly broke out like little hissing fires all over the hall.**

**"Potter, did she say?"**

_**The**_** Harry Potter?"**

"How many are there?" someone asked sarcastically.

**The last thing Harry saw before the hat dropped over his eyes was the hall full of people craning to get a good look at him. Next second he was looking at the black inside of the hat. He waited.**

_**Hmm," **_**said a small voice in his ear. **_**"Difficult. Very difficult. Plenty of courage, I see. Not a bad mind either. There's talent, A my goodness, yes - and a thirst to prove yourself, now that's interesting... So where shall I put you?"**_

"You could have been in any house?" Severus said amazed.

**Harry gripped the edges of the stool and thought, "Not Slytherin, not Slytherin."**

**"Not Slytherin, eh?" said the small voice. "Are you sure? You could be great, you know, it's all here in your head, and Slytherin will help you on the way to greatness, no doubt about that**

"You cannot put my son in Slytherin!" Prongs exclaimed.

Evans shot him a look.

**- no? Well, if you're sure - better be GRYFFINDOR!"**

All his friends cheered along with his parents and the marauders while Hermione hugged him.

**Harry heard the hat shout the last word to the whole hall. He took off the hat and walked shakily toward the Gryffindor table. He was so relieved to have been chosen and not put in Slytherin, he hardly noticed that he was getting the loudest cheer yet. **

**Percy the Prefect got up and shook his hand vigorously, while the Weasley twins yelled, "We got Potter! We got Potter!" **

The twins repeated the action.

**Harry sat down opposite the ghost in the ruff he'd seen earlier. The ghost patted his arm, giving Harry the sudden, horrible feeling he'd just plunged it into a bucket of ice-cold water.**

Harry shivered, along with both versions of his parents, Sirius and padfoot, Severus and Regulus.

**He could see the High Table properly now. At the end nearest him sat Hagrid, who caught his eye and gave him the thumbs up. Harry grinned back.**

**And there, in the center of the High Table, in a large gold chair, sat Albus Dumbledore. Harry recognized him at once from the card he'd gotten out of the Chocolate Frog on the train. Dumbledore's silver hair was the only thing in the whole hall that shone as brightly as the ghosts. **

"Wow"

"I never noticed it was that bright, did you prongs? Moony?"

"No" the two mentioned replied.

Dumbledore smiled and stroked his beard.

**Harry spotted Professor Quirell, too, the nervous young man from the Leaky Cauldron. He was looking very peculiar in a large purple turban.**

**And now there were only three people left to be sorted. "Thomas, Dean," a Black boy even taller than Ron, joined Harry at the Gryffindor table. "Turpin, Lisa," became a Ravenclaw and then it was Ron's turn. **

**He was pale green under his freckles by now. **

"Over observant git" Ron moaned.

**Harry crossed his fingers under the table and a second later the hat had shouted, "GRYFFINDOR!"**

**Harry clapped loudly with the rest as Ron collapsed into the chair next to him.**

**"Well done, Ron, excellent," said Percy Weasley pompously across Harry **

The younger Weasley's grimaced at the reminder of their brother's behaviour while Molly looked like she was about to start crying.

**as "Zabini, Blaise," was made a Slytherin. **

**Professor McGonagall rolled up her scroll and took the Sorting Hat away.**

**Harry looked down at his empty gold plate. He had only just realized how hungry he was. The pumpkin pasties seemed ages ago.**

"It always seems like that doesn't it?" Ron, Sirius and padfoot said together.

**Albus Dumbledore had gotten to his feet. He was beaming at the students, his arms opened wide, as if nothing could have pleased him more than to see them all there.**

"Very little could," Dumbledore smiled.

**"Welcome," he said. "Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts! Before we begin our banquet, I would like to say a few words. And here they are: Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak!**

"Brilliant!" Harry, the twins, both sets of marauders, Tonks, Charlie and Bill said.

**"Thank you!"**

**He sat back down. Everybody clapped and cheered. Harry didn't know whether to laugh or not.**

**"Is he - a bit mad?" Hermione asked Percy uncertainly.**

"Yes!" several voices chorused.

**"Madness and genius are two sides of the same coin," Harry said, her question bringing the phrase to mind, he looked at her and Percy to see them looking at him in surprise before looking at the table.**

**Harry's mouth fell open. The dishes in front of him were now piled with food. He had never seen so many things he liked to eat on one table: roast beef, roast chicken, pork chops and lamb chops, sausages, bacon and steak, boiled potatoes, roast potatoes, fries, Yorkshire pudding, peas, carrots, gravy, ketchup, and, for some strange reason, peppermint humbugs.**

"you still have those?" Prongs asked.

"Let me guess, you three charmed all the food to taste like humbugs one year, didn't you?"

**The Dursleys had never exactly starved Harry,**

"Your definition and mine of starved is a lot different," Ron said.

"A normal sized meal is being starved according to you," Harry replied, making his friends and Ron's brothers laugh as Ron went red and pouted.

**but he'd never been allowed to eat as much as he liked. Dudley had always taken anything that Harry really wanted, even if It made him sick.**

"Brat!"

**Harry piled his plate with a bit of everything except the peppermints and began to eat. It was all delicious.**

**As Harry started on his meal, he remembered the twin's prank on Ron. Descretly, Harry drew his wand and waited for an opportunity. He got it when both twins drank from their goblets at the same time, he muttered the _Coloufors_ charm and imagined their hair Olive green, he put his wand away after he finished casting and waited. **

**A few minutes later, laughter erupted from the twins part of the table as their classmates noticed the charm. The twins were staring at each other and grasping at their hair, before looking around with narrowed eyes for the one responsible while being heckled by three pretty girls sitting across from them.**

"That was _so_ embarrassing," the twins groaned as their friends laughed.

**Harry laughed a little before returning to his meal. **

**"That does look good," said the ghost in the ruff sadly, watching Harry cut up his steak,**

**"Can't you -?"**

**I haven't eaten for nearly four hundred years," said the ghost. "I don't need to, of course, but one does miss it. **

"Which is why Ron and Sirius will never become ghosts," Harry teased, making the two and padfoot blush and everyone else laugh.

**I don't think I've introduced myself? Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington at your service. Resident ghost of Gryffindor Tower."**

**"I know who you are!" said Ron suddenly. "My brothers told me about you - you're Nearly Headless Nick!"**

**"I would prefer you to call me Sir Nicholas de Mimsy -" the ghost began stiffly, but Hermione interrupted.**

**"Nearly Headless? How can you be nearly headless?"**

**Sir Nicholas looked extremely miffed,**

"He actually likes it, he shows off every year," Remus said.

**as if their little chat wasn't going at all the way he wanted.**

"Oh, it was," James said.

**"Like this," he said irritably. He seized his left ear and pulled. His whole head swung off his neck and fell onto his shoulder as if it was on a hinge. Someone had obviously tried to behead him, but not done it properly. **

"**AH!" Ron exclaimed as Hermione winced and looked away.**

**Looking pleased at the stunned looks on their faces, Nearly Headless Nick flipped his head back onto his neck, coughed, and said, "So - new Gryffindors! I hope you're going to help us win the house championship this year? Gryffindors have never gone so long without winning. Slytherins have got the cup six years in a row! The Bloody Baron's becoming almost unbearable - he's the Slytherin ghost."**

"Six years," prongs gasped, the younger marauders looked horrified.

Charlie, Tonks and Bill looked similarly horrified.

**Harry looked over at the Slytherin table and saw a horrible ghost sitting there, with blank staring eyes, a gaunt face, and Norman armour stained with silver blood. He was right next to Malfoy who, Harry was pleased to see, didn't look too pleased with the seating arrangements.**

Padfoot sniggered as the Slytherins winced.

**"How did he get covered in blood?" asked Seamus with great interest.**

**"I've never asked," said Nearly Headless Nick delicately.**

"I know, and the Grey lady too but it's their story to tell," Harry said, smiling as everyone looked ready to ask/beg him to tell them but were disappointed, Hermione pouted cutely at him again but it didn't work.

**When everyone had eaten as much as they could, the remains of the food faded from the plates, leaving them sparkling clean as before. A moment later the desserts appeared. Blocks of ice cream in every flavor you could think of, apple pies, treacle tarts, chocolate eclairs and jam doughnuts, trifle, strawberries, Jell-O, rice pudding - "**

**As Harry helped himself to a treacle tart, the talk turned to their families.**

**"I'm half-and-half," said Seamus. "Me dad's a Muggle. Mom didn't tell him she was a witch 'til after they were married. Bit of a nasty shock for him."**

"That's not good," Lily muttered.

"She should have told him earlier," Severus mumbled.

**The others laughed, except Harry who pointed out it could have backfired if his dad had been like the Dursley's even giving a few brief examples of how the Dursleys treated him to back up his point.**

"Not anywhere close to the truth though," Ron grumbled, making everyone but Violet, Dan and Emma scowl.

**"What about you, Neville?" said Ron. **

**"Well, my gran brought me up and she's a witch," said Neville, "but the family thought I was all- Muggle for ages.**

"All muggle?"Violet asked.

"Old way to say squib," Ron explained.

**My Great Uncle Algie kept trying to catch me off my guard and force some magic out of me - he pushed me off the end of Blackpool pier once,**

"HE WHAT?" Alice screeched.

**I nearly drowned**

Frank and Alice looked murderous while William and Augusta were shocked.

**- but nothing happened until I was eight. Great Uncle Algie came round for dinner, and he was hanging me out of an upstairs window by the ankles**

Frank growled as Alice began muttering angrily.

**when my Great Auntie Enid offered him a meringue and he accidentally let go.**

Alice went deathly pale.

**But I bounced - all the way down the garden and into the road. They were all really pleased, Gran was crying, she was so happy.**

"Yes cry because he has magic not because he's safe," Lily muttered outraged.

Augusta looked horrified at what seemed to have happened to her grandson.

**And you should have seen their faces when I got in here - they thought I might not be magic enough to come, you see. Great Uncle Algie was so pleased he bought me my toad."**

**On Harry's other side, Percy Weasley and Hermione were talking about lessons ("I do hope they start right away, there's so much to learn, I'm particularly interested in Transfiguration, you know, turning something into something else, of course, it's supposed to be very difficult-", "You'll be starting small, just matches into needles and that sort of thing - "). **

**Harry, who was starting to feel warm and sleepy, looked up at the High Table again. Hagrid was drinking deeply from his goblet. Professor McGonagall was talking to Professor Dumbledore. Professor Quirrell, in his absurd turban, was talking to a teacher with greasy black hair, a hooked nose, and sallow skin.**

"No way!" padfoot and prongs exclaimed as Severus looked surprised.

"If you treat my son like dirt because of our school days, Severus…" James growled out.

Lily was looking at her old friend very carefully as Snape hung his head in shame.

**It happened very suddenly. The hook-nosed teacher looked past Quirrell's turban straight into Harry's eyes - and a sharp, hot pain shot across the scar on Harry's forehead.**

"What did you do to my son?" James demanded, drawing his wand and aiming at Snape who held up his hands, Lily rose with James but didn't make him stop threatening the Potions Master.

"Nothing!" Harry growled, getting up and forcing his father's wand down. "It wasn't him, but someone nearby, I was looking at him at the time" Harry told him firmly.

James looked from his son to Snape, who was still holding his hands up, and back but Harry gave him a look that left no room for argument and he sat down, Lily joining him but still watching Snape.

Narcissa started reading again as Harry sat back down.

**"Ouch!" Harry clapped a hand to his head.**

**"What is it?" asked Percy.**

**"N-nothing, it's nothing."**

**The pain had gone as quickly as it had come. Harder to shake off was the feeling Harry had gotten from the teacher's look - a feeling that he didn't like Harry at all.**

Prongs and James groaned.

**"Who's that teacher talking to Professor Quirrell?" he asked Percy.**

**"Oh, you know Quirrell already, do you? No wonder he's looking so nervous, that's Professor Snape.**

**He teaches Potions, but he doesn't want to - everyone knows he's after Quirrell's job. Knows an awful lot about the Dark Arts, Snape."**

Everyone looked at both Snapes.

**Harry watched Snape for a while, but Snape didn't look at him again.**

**At last, the desserts too disappeared, and Professor Dumbledore got to his feet again. The hall fell silent.**

**"Ahern - just a few more words now that we are all fed and watered. I have a few start-of-term notices to give you.**

**"First years should note that the forest on the grounds is forbidden to all pupils. And a few of our older students would do well to remember that as well."**

**Dumbledore's twinkling eyes flashed in the direction of the Weasley twins.**

The twins stood up and bowed as Remus said, "He used to give us that look."

"He does that to us now," Hermione said, earning a look from her parents and Harry's.

**"I have also been asked by Mr. Filch, the caretaker, to remind you all that no magic should be used between classes in the corridors.**

**"Quidditch trials will be held in the second week of the term. Anyone interested in playing for their house teams should contact Madam Hooch."**

"Or do something brave and stupid that shouldn't be possible on a school broom," Ron said sarcastically before being hit by a pillow.

**"And finally, I must tell you that this year, the third-floor corridor on the right-hand side is out of bounds to everyone who does not wish to die a very painful death."**

All the adults exchanged a worried look.

**Harry laughed, but he was one of the few who did.**

**"He's not serious?" he muttered to Percy.**

**"Must be," said Percy, frowning at Dumbledore. "It's odd, because he usually gives us a reason why we're not allowed to go somewhere - the forest's full of dangerous beasts, everyone knows that. I do think he might have told us prefects, at least."**

"Because Prefects are _so_ important," padfoot said sarcastically.

**"And now, before we go to bed, let us sing the school song!" cried Dumbledore. Harry noticed that the other teachers' smiles had become rather fixed.**

All the teachers looked shocked as Harry blushed and Ron muttered, "Over observant prat."

**Dumbledore gave his wand a little flick, as if he was trying to get a fly off the end, and a long golden ribbon flew out of it, which rose high above the tables and twisted itself, snakelike, into words.**

**"Everyone pick their favorite tune," said Dumbledore, "and off we go!" And the school bellowed:**

_**"Hogwarts, Hogwarts, Hoggy Warty Hogwarts,**_

_**Teach us something please,**_

_**Whether we be old and bald**_

_**Or young with scabby knees,**_

_**Our heads could do with filling**_

_**With some interesting stuff,**_

_**For now they're bare and full of air,**_

_**Dead flies and bits of fluff,**_

_**So teach us things worth knowing,**_

_**Bring back what we've forgot,**_

_**just do your best, we'll do the rest,**_

_**And learn until our brains all rot.**_

**Everybody finished the song at different times. At last, only the Weasley twins were left singing along to a very slow funeral march.**

This twins attempted to repeat the performance but were silenced.

**Dumbledore conducted their last few lines with his wand and when they had finished, he was one of those who clapped loudest.**

**"Ah, music," he said, wiping his eyes. "A magic beyond all we do here! And now, bedtime. Off you trot!"**

**The Gryffindor first years followed Percy through the chattering crowds, out of the Great Hall, and up the marble staircase. Harry's legs were like lead again, but only because he was so tired and full of food.**

"I felt the same way the first night," Charlus and James said.

**He was too sleepy even to be surprised that the people in the portraits along the corridors whispered and pointed as they passed, or that twice Percy led them through doorways hidden behind sliding panels and hanging tapestries.**

"Git, that's why we get lost," Ron exclaimed.

Remus, Lily, Moony and Evans blushed as they realised they'd done the same thing.

**They climbed more staircases, yawning and dragging their feet, and Harry was just wondering how much farther they had to go when they came to a sudden halt.**

**A bundle of walking sticks was floating in mid-air ahead of them, and as Percy took a step toward them they started throwing themselves at him.**

**"Peeves," Percy whispered to the first years. "A poltergeist." He raised his voice, "Peeves - show yourself"**

**A loud, rude sound, like the air being let out of a balloon, answered.**

**"Do you want me to go to the Bloody Baron?"**

"Don't play the Baron card so soon," both sets of marauders, the twins and surprisingly Harry groaned.

**There was a pop, and a little man with wicked, dark eyes and a wide mouth appeared, floating cross- legged in the air, clutching the walking sticks.**

**"Oooooooh!" he said, with an evil cackle. "Ickle Firsties! What fun!"**

**He swooped suddenly at them. They all ducked.**

**"Go away, Peeves, or the Baron'll hear about this, I mean it!" barked Percy.**

**Peeves stuck out his tongue and vanished, dropping the walking sticks on Neville's head. They heard him zooming away, rattling coats of armor as he passed.**

**"You want to watch out for Peeves," said Percy, as they set off again. "The Bloody Baron's the only one who can control him, he won't even listen to us prefects.**

"Git" Ron and the twins said.

**Here we are."**

**At the very end of the corridor hung a portrait of a very fat woman in a pink silk dress.**

"She's the entrance to your common room?" the Slytherins asked.

**"Password?" she said. "Caput Draconis," said Percy, and the portrait swung forward to reveal a round hole in the wall. They all scrambled through it - Neville needed a leg up - and found themselves in the Gryffindor common room, a cosy, round room full of squashy armchairs.**

Several people sighed as they remembered all the memories they'd made In that room.

**Percy directed the girls through one door to their dormitory and the boys through another. At the top of a spiral staircase - they were obviously in one of the towers - they found their beds at last: five four-posters hung with deep red, velvet curtains. Their trunks had already been brought up. Too tired to talk much, they pulled on their pyjamas and fell into bed.**

"I'd always wondered about that, but then I found the kitchens," Ron said.

"You mean I showed you how to get in," Harry corrected.

"Yeah, and met the house elves," Ron finished blushing slightly.

**"Great food, isn't it?" Ron muttered to Harry through the hangings. "Get off, Scabbers! He's chewing my sheets."**

Moony, Padfoot and Prongs were once again struck by the similarities between Peter in his animagus form and Scabbers.

**Harry got changed and settled into bed, Luna curling up at the foot of the bed in a spare blanket. Harry was going to ask Ron if he'd had any of the treacle tart, but he fell asleep almost at once. Perhaps Harry had eaten a bit too much, because he had a very strange dream. **

**He was wearing Professor Quirrell's turban, which kept talking to him, telling him he must transfer to Slytherin at once, because it was his destiny. Harry told the turban he didn't want to be in Slytherin; it got heavier and heavier; he tried to pull it off but it tightened painfully - and there was Malfoy, laughing at him as he struggled with it -then Malfoy turned into the hook-nosed teacher, Snape, whose laugh became high and cold – suddenly, pleading, begging screams drowned out the laughter for a moment before an unintelligible shout came followed by a final terrible scream and a burst of green light.**

**Harry woke there, sweating and shaking.**

Harry exchanged a look with Hermione and his parents, all looking very worried and very aware of everyone watching him.

**He rolled over and fell asleep again, and when he woke next day, he didn't remember most of the dream just the screaming and cold laughter.**

"That's the end," Narcissa said, marking the page.

"Can I read?" Violet asked.

Narcissa passed her the book; Violet adjusted her glasses on her nose as she found the right page.

"**Chapter 8, The Potions Master"** Violet read.


	10. Chapter 10-The Potions Master

The Potions Master

"**THE POTIONS MASTER"** Violet read.

"Snivellus gets a whole chapter to hi..." There was a flash of violet light and a pair of high pitched yelps from Sirius and Padfoot.

The flash faded to reveal two puppy padfoots with pink fur and purple spots.

Both pups tried to growl and bark threateningly but made a purr-like sound and high pitched yips as everyone laughed.

Except James, Lily, Dan, Emma and Remus who were watching a ghostly pale Snape.

**"There, look."**

**"Where?"**

**"Next to the tall, lanky kid with the red hair."**

Ron went bright red as his friends, girlfriend and brothers laughed.

**"Wearing the glasses?"**

**"Did you see his face?"**

**"Did you see his scar?"**

Harry flattened his hair over his scar as his friends and sister laughed.

**Whispers followed Harry from the moment he left his dormitory the next day. People lining up outside classrooms stood on tiptoe to get a look at him, or doubled back to pass him in the corridors again, staring.**

"They should be going to class, not staring," McGonagall said disapprovingly, the teachers and most adults murmured in agreement.

**Harry wished they wouldn't, because he was trying to concentrate on finding his way to classes.**

**There were a hundred and forty-two staircases at Hogwarts: **

"You counted?" Fred asked incredulously.

"At first I knew it from _Hogwarts: A History_ but I later counted them when planning shortcuts and escape routes," Harry explained. Fred nodded in understanding, he and George had begun doing the same before the found the map.

**wide, sweeping ones; narrow, rickety ones; some that led somewhere different on a Friday; some with a vanishing step halfway up that you had to remember to jump. **

Neville groaned as his friends chuckled.

**Then there were doors that wouldn't open unless you asked politely, or tickled them in exactly the right place,**

"Kitchens," Harry, Hermione, Ron, the twins, both sets of marauders, both Snapes, Regulus, Evans and Lily said.

**and doors that weren't really doors at all, but solid walls just pretending. It was also very hard to remember where anything was, because it all seemed to move around a lot. The people in the portraits kept going to visit each other, and Harry was sure the coats of armour could walk.**

"They can," Harry said darkly, shuddering slightly as he remembered the time one had tripped over him when he was exploring as a collie, Madame Pomfrey hadn't been happy when he went to the Hospital wing the next day and he doubted she'd believed him when he said he fell from a tree by the lake shore.

**The ghosts didn't help, either. It was always a nasty shock when one of them glided suddenly through a door you were trying to open. **

There was some light grumbling from people that had experienced that.

**Nearly Headless Nick was always happy to point new Gryffindors in the right direction, but Peeves the Poltergeist was worth two locked doors and a trick staircase**

"Three locked doors and two trick staircases, more like," Ron muttered.

**if you met him when you were late for class. He would drop wastepaper baskets on your head, pull rugs from under your feet, pelt you with bits of chalk, or sneak up behind you, invisible, grab your nose, and screech, "GOT YOUR CONK!"**

"You taught him that, didn't you?" Harry asked as James and Remus burst out laughing.

**Even worse than Peeves, if that was possible, was the caretaker, Argus Filch. Harry and Ron managed to get on the wrong side of him on their very first morning.**

"Wow, took us two days," the twins said, impressed, ignoring Molly's glare.

Harry avoided his mother's eyes as she sent him a disapproving look.

**Filch found them trying to force their way through a door that unluckily turned out to be the entrance to the out-of-bounds corridor on the third floor.**

"Nice," prongs said, but got slapped by Evans.

**He wouldn't believe they were lost, was sure they were trying to break into it on purpose, and was threatening to lock them in the dungeons when they were rescued by Professor Quirrell, who was passing.**

Harry, Hermione, Ron and Neville shared a look and Harry rubbed his throat again, to the adults concern.

**Filch owned a cat called Mrs. Norris, a scrawny, dust-colored creature with bulging, lamp like eyes just like Filch's. **

"That thing is still there?" Bill, prongs and James shouted.

**She patrolled the corridors alone. Break a rule in front of her, put just one toe out of line, and she'd whisk off for Filch, who'd appear, wheezing, two seconds later. Filch knew the secret passageways of the school better than anyone**

"OI!" both sets of Marauders and the twins cried.

**(except perhaps the Weasley twins)**

"Not anymore," Harry said, smirking at the pouting twins.

**and could pop up as suddenly as any of the ghosts. The students all hated him, and it was the dearest ambition of many to give Mrs. Norris a good kick.**

"I did," Sirius (who had returned to his human form by now), Regulus and, surprisingly, Bill said proudly.

"Didn't need to, Luna terrifies her," Harry told them.

**And then, once you had managed to find them, there were the classes themselves. There was a lot more to magic, as Harry quickly found out, than waving your wand and saying a few funny words.**

"Naturally," Lucius drawled, much like his son.

**They had to study the night skies through their telescopes every Wednesday at midnight and learn the names of different stars and the movements of the planets. Three times a week they went out to the greenhouses behind the castle to study Herbology, with a dumpy little witch called Professor Sprout, where they learned how to take care of all the strange plants and fungi, and found out what they were used for.**

"My favourite class," Alice and Neville said in unison.

**Easily the most boring class was History of Magic, which was the only one taught by a ghost. Professor Binns had been very old indeed when he had fallen asleep in front of the staff room fire and got up next morning to teach, leaving his body behind him. Binns droned on and on while they scribbled down names and dates, and got Emetic the Evil and Uric the Oddball mixed up before he started to fall asleep.**

Several people grinned sheepishly, they'd done that too.

**Professor Flitwick, the Charms teacher, was a tiny little wizard who had to stand on a pile of books to see over his desk. At the start of their first class he took the roll call, and when he reached Harry's name he gave an excited squeak and toppled out of sight.**

The students who'd been present chuckled.

The professor present went bright red as his colleagues smiled.

**Harry found Charms lessons quite enjoyable and quickly became the second best student in the class, Hermione Granger being his only better.**

**Professor McGonagall was again different. Harry had been quite right to think she wasn't a teacher to cross. Strict and clever, she gave them a talking-to the moment they sat down in her first class.**

**"Transfiguration is some of the most complex and dangerous magic you will learn at Hogwarts," she said. "Anyone messing around in my class will leave and not come back. You have been warned."**

"Right," Harry said loudly, sitting up straight. "How did they…" he pointed to his father, godfather and godwolf, "…pass?"

"They were my best students at the time; I couldn't bring myself to throw them out," Minerva explained before glaring at Sirius, "although I was tested at times."

**Then she changed her desk into a pig and back again. They were all very impressed and couldn't wait to get started, but soon realized they weren't going to be changing the furniture into animals for a long time. **

"Furniture, no, People..."

**After taking a lot of complicated notes, they were each given a match and started trying to turn it into a needle. Harry managed to change his needle completely in one go on his third try. By the end of the lesson, only he and Hermione Granger had made any difference to her match;**

"I take it that's your best class?" James asked, smiling proudly, Lily shook her head and smiled fondly at her husband.

"No, actually," Harry said, smiling at them.

**Professor McGonagall showed the class how Hermione's had gone all silver and pointy while Harry's was a perfect, if blunt, sewing needle and gave him and Hermione a rare smile.**

"They're not rare," Evans protested. "You just get into detention before you can earn one,"

**The class everyone had really been looking forward to was Defense Against the Dark Arts, but Quirrell's lessons turned out to be a bit of a joke.**

Harry rubbed his throat again but Hermione pulled his hand away when she noticed, just like their parents.

**His classroom smelled strongly of garlic, which everyone said was to ward off a vampire he'd met in Romania and was afraid would be coming back to get him one of these days. **

"Wasn't a vampire," Harry mumbled, shivering slightly as Hermione hugged him to comfort him.

James, Lily, Sirius and Remus were now getting worried by Harry's reactions.

**His turban, he told them, had been given to him by an African prince as a thank-you for getting rid of a troublesome zombie,**

Harry paled as an image of what was under that turban flashed in his mind's eye, hugging Hermione for comfort as it did.

**but they weren't sure they believed this story. For one thing, when Seamus Finnigan asked eagerly to hear how Quirrell had fought off the zombie, Quirrell went pink and started talking about the weather; for another, they had noticed that a funny smell hung around the turban, and the Weasley twins insisted that it was stuffed full of garlic as well, so that Quirrell was protected wherever he went.**

**Harry spent most of his time in Quirrell's lessons reading through his textbooks or one of the books he bought in Diagon Alley.**

**Harry was very relieved to find out that he wasn't miles behind everyone else. Lots of people had come from Muggle families and, like him, hadn't had any idea that they were witches and wizards. There was so much to learn that even people like Ron didn't have much of a head start.**

"Hermione had more of a head start than Ron," Neville snorted.

Ron glared at him, while his brothers and friends laughed.

**Friday was an important day for Harry and Ron. They finally managed to find their way down to the Great Hall for breakfast without getting lost once, Luna padding along beside them.**

"It took us until the following Tuesday," Sirius grumbled.

"It might not have, if you hadn't annoyed Peeves and he didn't make the staircases keep changing," Remus retorted, annoyed.

Sirius ducked his head as everyone laughed.

**"What have we got today?" Harry asked Ron as he poured sugar on his porridge.**

**"Double Potions with the Slytherins," said Ron. "Snape's the Head of Slytherin House.**

"When is the old coot going to realise putting Slytherins and Gryffindors together in the same room in the dangerous classes is asking for trouble," Charlie said angrily.

Everyone sent him an agreeing look except Dumbledore who seemed to be in deep thought until Molly realised what he said.

"Charles, do not talk about the headmaster like that," she scolded, Charlie ducked his head and mumbled an apology.

"Especially when he's present," Bill pointed out. Charlies eyes went wide and he turned to the headmaster but Dumbledore waved off his apology.

**They say he always favors them** **- we'll be able to see if it's true."**

**"Wish McGonagall favored us," said Harry.**

"She doesn't," prongs sighed.

"That's what you think," Harry said mysteriously.

**Professor McGonagall was head of Gryffindor House, but it hadn't stopped her from giving them a huge pile of homework the day before.**

**Harry started on his porridge just as Luna popped up from beneath the table, her nose zeroing in on the bacon platter, only to find it empty. **

George suddenly went scarlet as Fred, Ron, Neville, Hermione, Harry and Lavender tried not to laugh.

**She gave the puppy equivalent of a frown and sniffed the air again, turning towards the Weasley twins (their hair back to the normal Weasley red) who were sitting opposite the same three girls from last night.**

**Harry looked up when her ears perked up and watched as she ducked under the table in the direction of the twins.**

"What's she doing?" Sirius wondered.

Remus tried not to smile as he remembered 'The Bacon Scourge' during the time he was teaching.

**George was eating breakfast and talking to a pretty black girl when a black and white furry face popped up in the empty seat next to him. He turned to look at the visitor to find a vaguely familiar black and white furred wolf cub.**

**The girls cooed loudly as the cub sat there looking cute before licking its lips as it stared at the bacon on George's plate.**

"**No" George said loudly, placing his arms protectively over his plate. The girls began telling him off as the pup gave him puppy eyes, wagging its tail excitedly.**

"**No, go get your own bacon," he said, obviously trying to stay strong in the face of the pup's cuteness.  
"There is no more," the black girl pointed out. George looked down the table to see that the bacon platters were indeed empty.  
He looked back down to the pup, as he watched it stopped wagging its tail and the puppy eyed look seemed to intensify.  
"Just give her some of your bacon George," the middle dark skinned girl said, even Fred agreed now.  
George held out for a few more moments but broke when the cub's ears and whiskers drooped sadly; the pup was too adorably cute and sad.**

"**Oh, alright but just a piece," George said, the pup perking up and wagging its tail excitedly as George removed his arms and cut one of his four pieces of bacon a third of the way down, picked it up on his fork and offered it to the pup. **

**He was confused for a moment when the pup didn't take the bacon but kept eyeing the plate. Before he knew what was happening, the pup darted forward and grasped the remaining three and 2/3 pieces of bacon on his plate in her mouth, and disappearing under the table leaving George with only 1/3 of a strip of bacon to eat.**

**The five were left staring until the pup popped up from under the table to settle down in an empty spot on the table next to Harry and Ron to eat.  
They stared at the pup, who was now enjoying the bacon, for a few moments until George suddenly said "I just got pranked by a **_**pup**_**" loud enough for the whole hall to hear.  
Fred and the girls burst into laughter as George went red when the pup gave him an innocent look.**

George was still blushing as everyone laughed; he shot a look at Harry who shrugged.

**Just then, the mail arrived. Harry had gotten used to this by now, but it had given him a bit of a shock on the first morning, when about a hundred owls had suddenly streamed into the Great Hall during breakfast,** **circling the tables until they saw their owners, and dropping letters and packages onto their laps.**

**Hedwig hadn't brought Harry anything so far. She sometimes flew in to nibble his ear and have a bit of toast before going off to sleep in the owlery with the other school owls.**

**This morning, however, she fluttered down between the marmalade and the sugar bowl and dropped a note onto Harry's plate. Harry tore it open at once. It said, in a very untidy scrawl:**

_**Dear Harry,**_

_**I know you get Friday afternoons off, so would you like to come and have a cup of tea with me around three?**_

_**I want to hear all about your first week. Send us an answer back with Hedwig.**_

_**Hagrid**_

"That was kind of Hagrid," Lily said.

**Harry borrowed Ron's quill, scribbled **_**'Yes, please, see you later'**_** on the back of the note, and sent Hedwig off again.**

"So polite," one of the girls said again.

**It was lucky that Harry had tea with Hagrid to look forward to, because the Potions lesson turned out to be the worst thing that had happened to him so far.**

"Really," James said, giving Snape a look, which Lily mirrored.

**At the start-of-term banquet, Harry had gotten the idea that Professor Snape disliked him. By the end of the first Potions lesson, he knew he'd been wrong. Snape didn't dislike Harry**

"What?" Harry's friends cried in surprise.

"I'm not finished," Violet said.

**- he hated him.**

"That's more like it," Ron said, making Lily and James glare at an ashamed looking Snape again.

**Potions lessons took place down in one of the dungeons. It was colder here than up in the main castle, and would have been quite creepy enough without the pickled animals floating in glass jars all around the walls.**

"That is creepy,"

**Snape, like Flitwick, started the class by taking the roll call, and like Flitwick, he paused at Harry's name.**

James and Lily looked at Snape again but didn't say anything.

**"Ah, Yes," he said softly, "Harry Potter. Our new - celebrity."**

"Who was the old one?" Harry joked.

**Draco Malfoy and his friends Crabbe and Goyle sniggered behind their hands.**

"Idiots," Neville said.

**Snape finished calling the names and looked up at the class. His eyes were black like Hagrid's, but they had none of Hagrid's warmth. They were cold and empty and made you think of dark tunnels.**

"Occlumency?" Harry wondered aloud.

**"You are here to learn the subtle science and exact art of potionmaking," he began. **

**He spoke in barely more than a whisper, but they caught every word - like Professor McGonagall, Snape had y caught every word - like Professor McGonagall, Snape had the gift of keeping a class silent without effort. **

"Stop comparing him to teachers we like," Charlie complained.

**"As there is little foolish wand-waving here, many of you will hardly believe this is magic. I don't expect you will really understand the beauty of the softly simmering cauldron with its shimmering fumes, the delicate power of liquids that creep through human veins, bewitching the mind, ensnaring the senses... I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, even stopper death**

"That's not a bad speech," Hermione admitted.

**- if you aren't as big a bunch of dunderheads as I usually have to teach."**

"But he ruined it," Tonks said.

**More silence followed this little speech. Harry and Ron exchanged looks with raised eyebrows. Hermione Granger was on the edge of her seat and looked desperate to start proving that she wasn't a dunderhead.**

A few people laughed as Hermione slapped Harry's arm, muttering about over-observant prats.

**"Potter!" said Snape suddenly. "What would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?"**

"That's not a first year question!" Bill protested as Minerva said "Severus" sharply.

**Powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood? He'd read that somewhere Harry glanced at Ron, who looked as stumped as he was; Hermione's hand had shot into the air.**

The twins, Tonks, Neville, Ron and Lavender laughed as Hermione went red.

**"A powerful sleeping draught, I think, sir," said Harry. "I think Aurors used to use it as a gas grenade for non-lethal takedowns, I can't remember the exact name."**

Moody nodded approvingly while Tonks perked up at that, she honestly hadn't known that.

**Snape's face twitched slightly, he frowned after a moment.**

Sirius sent Snape a piercing look.

**"An interesting if incomplete answer"**

**He ignored Hermione's hand.**

"Severus" Minerva repeated, Slughorn stared at his former student in disapproval.

**"Let's try again. Potter, where would you look if I told you to find me a bezoar?"**

"That's more reasonable, but it's still summer term," Remus said annoyed.

**Hermione stretched her hand as high into the air as it would go without her leaving her seat.**

Hermione tried to hide her face in Harry's chest as the laughter started to spread, he could feel the heat from her cheeks through his shirt.

**He tried not to look at Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle, who were shaking with laughter.**

"Doubt Crabbe or Goyle knew," Harry said angrily. "Not sure about Malfoy though," he added thoughtfully.

Lucius and Narcissa were both red faced from anger and embarrassment, they silently promised to raise their son to be a better man than this.

**But this one Harry knew.**

**"The stomach of a goat, Sir." He answered before adding, "Or the student supply stores, it's a stone that will save you from most magical and mundane poisons and venoms and is a lynchpin ingredient in most antidotes. It is not fool proof, however, and is useless against Basilisk or Acromantuala venom, Arsenic or Mercury poisoning."**

**"Technically correct" Snape said dismissively, another odd twitch crossed his face before his expression recovered.**

"Severus, that was an excellent answer and you know it," Horace said quietly.

**Harry forced himself to keep looking straight into those cold eyes. **

"Bad idea," someone, possibly Sirius, muttered.

**He had looked through his books at the Dursleys', but did Snape honestly expect him to remember everything in One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi?**

"Probably not, at the time," Ron muttered, which provoked more glares at Snape.

**Snape was still ignoring Hermione's quivering hand.**

"Severus," this time it was Horace, to everyone's surprise he was looking at the older Snape in disgust.

**"What is the difference, Potter, between monkshood and wolfsbane?"**

"Trick question," the twins muttered angrily.

**At this, Hermione stood up, her hand stretching toward the dungeon ceiling.**

Hermione groaned into Harry's chest as everyone laughed, Harry smiled at her.

**"Trick question, they're the same plant which is also known as aconite," Harry said neutrally.**

**Snape stared at Harry for a moment; Harry's mind registered a brief flicker of surprise in the man's eyes before it was gone.**

"Of course he was surprised, he wasn't expecting you to know any of that, never mind all of it," Hermione snapped.

**Hermione had put down her hand and sat down, as she looked over to Harry and Snape she seemed to pout a little because she hadn't been picked to answer, for some reason Harry thought she looked cute when she pouted like that.**

Harry blushed as everyone looked at him.

"**Your first answer was mostly correct but the correct name is the Draught of Living Death, a bezoar is indeed a stone taken from a goat's stomach and it will save you from most poisons except those you mentioned, and wolfsbane and monkshood are the same plant and are also called aconite," Snape said to a class of shocked Gryffindors and stunned Slytherins.**

"**Well? Why aren't you all copying that down?" Snape snapped, looking past Harry to the rest of the class.**

"Because you didn't tell them to," McGonagall snapped.

**There was a sudden rummaging for quills and parchment. Over the noise, Snape grudgingly said, "And two points will be given to Gryffindor House for answering correctly, Potter."**

"Did Snape just _Award_ points to Gryffindor?" Charlie asked in disbelief to Tonks, who was white with silver hair and eyes in shock.

THUD

Everyone looked around to find Fred and George had passed out in shock.

"What? You all know I can do the impossible," Harry said annoyed, a lot of people had bugged him that weekend to find out if it was true that Snape had awarded a Gryffindor house points.

**Things didn't improve for the Gryffindors as the Potions lesson continued. Snape put them all into pairs and set them to mixing up a simple potion to cure boils.**

**He swept around in his long black cloak, watching them weigh dried nettles and crush snake fangs, criticizing almost everyone except Malfoy, whom he seemed to like.**

No one said anything but several people looked between Lucius and Severus.

**He was just telling everyone to look at the perfect way Malfoy had stewed his horned slugs when clouds of acid green smoke and a loud hissing filled the dungeon.**

"What's happened?" Horace asked.

**Neville had somehow managed to melt Seamus's cauldron into a twisted blob, and their potion was seeping across the stone floor, burning holes in people's shoes.**

"Ouch," Remus and moony said, wincing in sympathy.

**Within seconds, the whole class was standing on their stools while Neville, who had been drenched in the potion when the cauldron collapsed, moaned in pain as angry red boils sprang up all over his arms and legs.**

"Are you okay?" Alice asked her son.

"I was fine," Neville smiled.

**"Idiot boy!" snarled Snape,**

"SEVERUS!" Horace, Minerva, McGonagall and Lily shouted.

**clearing the spilled potion away with one wave of his wand. "I suppose you added the porcupine quills before taking the cauldron off the fire?"**

**Neville whimpered as boils started to pop up all over his nose.**

"Get him to the hospital wing!" Remus said angrily.

**"Take him up to the hospital wing," Snape spat at Seamus.**

There was a collective sigh from the teachers and Lily but Remus had a feeling it wasn't over yet.

**Then he rounded on Harry and Ron, who had been working next to Neville.**

"Not good," Bill and Charlie said.

**"You - Potter - why didn't you tell him not to add the quills?**

"Maybe he was working on his own potion!" Sirius snarled.

**Thought he'd make you look good if he got it wrong, did you?**

"How dare you!" Arthur shouted, looking furiously at Snape.

**That's a point you've lost for Gryffindor."**

Everyone was beyond shouting now; even Severus wanted to hex his older counterpart.

**This was so unfair that Harry opened his mouth to argue, but Ron kicked him behind their cauldron.**

**"Don't push it," he muttered, "I've heard Snape can turn very nasty."**

"He can," the twins agreed, having finally woken up.

**As they climbed the steps out of the dungeon an hour later, Harry's mind was racing and his spirits were low. He'd lost two points for Gryffindor in his very first week **

"Two points? We lost forty in our first week," Sirius said.

"Each," Remus reminded him.

"Seventy," the twins admitted.

"Forty five," Charlie and Tonks said.

"One hundred and ten," Bill admitted, blushing.

Everyone stared at him; Molly couldn't believe he'd lost so many points, never mind in his first week.

**- why did Snape hate him so much?**

"Because of me," Prongs and James said, shame and self-loathing thick in their voices, Evans and Lily hugged them

**"Cheer up," said Ron, "Snape's always taking points off Fred and George.**

The twins nodded in agreement.

**Can I come and meet Hagrid with you?"**

**At five to three they left the castle and made their way across the grounds. Hagrid lived in a small wooden house on the edge of the forbidden forest. A crossbow and a pair of galoshes were outside the front door.**

**When Harry knocked they heard a frantic scrabbling from inside and several booming barks. Then Hagrid's voice rang out, saying, "Back, Fang - back."**

"Fang?" Lily asked, worried.

"Don't worry, it's the ones with the normal names you've got to watch for," Harry told her.

Lily looked away before turning back to ask what he meant but Violet continued before she could.

**Hagrid's big, hairy face appeared in the crack as he pulled the door open.**

**"Hang on," he said. "Back, Fang."**

**He let them in, struggling to keep a hold on the collar of an enormous black boarhound.**

**There was only one room inside. Hams and pheasants were hanging from the ceiling, a copper kettle was boiling on the open fire, and in the corner stood a massive bed with a patchwork quilt over it.**

"Cosy place," Harry commented, Charlie and Tonks nodded in agreement.

**"Make yerselves at home," said Hagrid, letting go of Fang, who bounded straight at Ron and started licking his ears.**

"He always goes for me," Ron muttered as Hermione giggled.

**Like Hagrid, Fang was clearly not as fierce as he looked.**

**"This is Ron," Harry told Hagrid, who was pouring boiling water into a large teapot and putting rock cakes onto a plate.**

**"Another Weasley, eh?" said Hagrid, glancing at Ron's freckles. "I spent half me life chasin' yer twin brothers away from the forest."**

"And the other half chasing us away from the forest," moony said.

**The rock cakes were shapeless lumps with raisins that almost broke their teeth, but Harry and Ron pretended to be enjoying them as they told Hagrid all about their first -lessons.**

**Fang rested his head on Harry's knee and drooled all over his robes.**

**Harry and Ron were delighted to hear Hagrid call Filch "that old git."**

"That was my reaction too," Charlie told them.

**"An' as fer that cat, Mrs. Norris, I'd like ter introduce her to Fang sometime. D'yeh know, every time I go up ter the school, she follows me everywhere? Can't get rid of her - Fitch puts her up to it."**

"She was scared of Luna by Christmas, I think if she met Fang she'd die of a heart attack," Harry said.

**Harry told Hagrid about Snape's lesson. Hagrid, like Ron, told Harry not to worry about it, that Snape liked hardly any of the students.**

**"But he seemed to really hate me."**

**"Rubbish!" said Hagrid. "Why should he?"**

"Me," James and prongs said again.

**Yet Harry couldn't help thinking that Hagrid didn't quite meet his eyes when he said that.**

Ron snorted.

**"How's yer brother Charlie?" Hagrid asked Ron. "I liked him a lot - great with animals."**

"Nice subject change," someone muttered.

**Harry wondered if Hagrid had changed the subject on purpose.**

**While Ron told Hagrid all about Charlie's work with dragons, Harry picked up a piece of paper that was lying on the table under the tea cozy. It was a cutting from the Daily Prophet:**

_**GRINGOTTS BREAK-IN LATEST**_

Everyone leaned forward in curiosity except Ron, Neville, Harry and Hermione.

_**Investigations continue into the break-in at Gringotts on 31 July, widely believed to be the work of Dark wizards or witches unknown.**_

_**Gringotts goblins today insisted that nothing had been taken. The vault that was searched had in fact been emptied the same day.**_

_**"But we're not telling you what was in there, so keep your noses out if you know what's good for you," said a Gringotts spokesgoblin this afternoon.**_

**Harry remembered Ron telling him on the train that someone had tried to rob Gringotts, but Ron hadn't mentioned the date.**

**"Hagrid!" said Harry, "that Gringotts break-in happened on my birthday! It might've been happening while we were there!"**

"Good job," Moody grunted approvingly.

Almost everyone groaned, realising the kid's curiosity was going to lead them to investigate.

**There was no doubt about it, Hagrid definitely didn't meet Harry's eyes this time. He grunted and offered him another rock cake. Harry read the story again. The vault that was searched had in fact been emptied earlier that same day. Hagrid had emptied vault seven hundred and thirteen, if you could call it emptying, taking out that grubby little package. Had that been what the thieves were looking for?**

"Yes" Harry, Ron, Hermione and Neville said together.

**As Harry and Ron walked back to the castle for dinner, their pockets weighed down with rock cakes they'd been too polite to refuse, Harry thought that none of the lessons he'd had so far had given him as much to think about as tea with Hagrid. **

**Had Hagrid collected that package just in time? Where was it now? And did Hagrid know something about Snape that he didn't want to tell Harry?**

"Yes" Padfoot, prongs, moony, James, Sirius and Remus said together, looking very ashamed of themselves.

"That's it," Violet said, marking the page.

"Can I read next?" Regulus asked. Violet passed him the book and he cleared his throat as he opened to the right page.

"**The Midnight Duel," **Regulus read out.


	11. Chapter 11-The Midnight Duel

The Midnight Duel

**"Chapter Nine – The Midnight Duel," **Regulus read.

**Harry had never believed he would meet a boy he hated more than Dudley, but that was before he met Draco Malfoy.**

"So, you've only known Malfoy for, what, a month at most? And he's fouler than the pig?" Violet asked, Hermione and Lily had been filling her in a little on Harry's home life with their aunt, uncle and cousin.

"I didn't think it was possible either," Harry admitted as she stared at the book in shock.

**Still, first-year Gryffindors only had Potions with the Slytherins, so they didn't have to put up with Malfoy much. **

"Jinxed it," Bill muttered.

**Or at least, they didn't until they spotted a notice pinned up in the Gryffindor common room that made them all groan. Flying lessons would be starting on Thursday**

"What is wrong with Flying?" Prongs demanded.

"You'll see," Harry, Ron and Hermione told him.

**- and Gryffindor and Slytherin would be learning together.**

"That's asking for trouble," Charlie stated.

**"Typical," said Harry darkly. "Just what I always wanted. To make a fool of myself on a broomstick in front of Malfoy."**

"You won't make a fool of yourself," James said confidently.

"Dad, I'd never been on a broom as far as I could remember and Malfoy had spent years flying on private property, how could I compete?" Harry lied.

"But you were brilliant when I saw you play in your third year?" Sirius asked making James whip round and Lily face palm.

"You're on the team? When did you make it?" James asked excitedly, reminding Harry of Remus or Ron on a sugar rush, Sirius looked questioningly at him but his eyes showed he was as excited as James.

"I never tried out, the Captain, Oliver Wood, had no alternatives, I was the best available and was drafted into the team," Harry told them, hiding is grin as their (and padfoot and prongs') faces fell.

Almost everyone who knew was fighting to hide a smile or their laughter.

**He had been looking forward to learning to fly more than anything else.**

"I thought you said you were bad at flying," James asked.

"It doesn't mean I wasn't excited," Harry replied.

**"You don't know that you'll make a fool of yourself," said Ron reasonably. "Anyway, I know Malfoy's always going on about how good he is at Quidditch, but I bet that's all talk."**

**Malfay certainly did talk about flying a lot. He complained loudly about first years never getting on the house Quidditch teams**

Everyone that knew about a certain green eyed boy breaking that rule had to hide a smile

**and told long, boastful stories that always seemed to end with him narrowly escaping Muggles in helicopters.**

"I bet he doesn't even know what those are," padfoot said, "Lucius doesn't."

**He wasn't the only one, though: the way Seamus Finnigan told it, he'd spent most of his childhood zooming around the countryside on his broomstick.**

"Really felt out of place by then," Harry said, Hermione and Lily smiled in understanding.

**Even Ron would tell anyone who'd listen about the time he'd almost hit a hang glider on Charlie's old broom.**

"Ron!"

Ron grinned sheepishly at his mother as Charlie sent him a piercing look..

**Everyone from wizarding families talked about Quidditch constantly. Ron had already had a big argument with Dean Thomas, who shared their dormitory, about soccer.**

**Ron couldn't see what was exciting about a game with only one ball where no one was allowed to fly. Harry had caught Ron prodding Dean's poster of West Ham soccer team, trying to make the players move.**

Everyone laughed as Ron went red and glared at Harry.

**Neville had never been on a broomstick in his life, because his grandmother had never let him near one.**

**Privately, Harry felt she'd had good reason,**

Alice and Frank glared at Harry, but Neville laughed.

**because Neville managed to have an extraordinary number of accidents even with both feet on the ground.**

"Hey!" Alice and Frank said indignantly.

"It's true though, it wasn't until mid-second year that I started getting better." Neville explained.

**Hermione Granger was almost as nervous about flying as Neville was. This was something you couldn't learn by heart out of a book - not that she hadn't tried, **

Every one of Hermione's friends smiled at her as she went red and buried her face in Harry's shirt again.

**and Harry thought this was worrying her.**

Hermione went bright red and slapped Harry's arm as everyone laughed except Lily, Remus, Evans and Moony who were also blushing hard.

**At breakfast on Thursday she bored them all stupid with flying tips she'd gotten out of a library book called Quidditch Through the Ages.**

"I love that book," James commented.

"One of only two worth reading," Ron said loudly, flinching from the wave of glares from the bookworms.

"What's the other?" prongs asked, amused.

"Flying with the Cannons," Ron said, earning a smile from Sirius and Padfoot but everyone else had to stifle their laughter.

**Neville was hanging on to her every word, desperate for anything that might help him hang on to his broomstick later, but everybody else was very pleased when Hermione's lecture was interrupted by the arrival of the mail.**

Hermione went very red again and Harry hugged her.

**Harry hadn't had a single letter since Hagrid's note, something that Malfoy had been quick to notice, of course.**

"Git"

**Malfoy's eagle owl was always bringing him packages of sweets from home, which he opened gloatingly at the Slytherin table.**

**A barn owl brought Neville a small package from his grandmother. He opened it excitedly and showed them a glass ball the size of a large marble, which seemed to be full of white smoke.**

"A Remembrall?" Narcissa aked.

**"It's a Remembrall!" he explained. "Gran knows I forget things - this tells you if there's something you've forgotten to do. Look, you hold it tight like this and if it turns red - oh..." His face fell, because the Remembrall had suddenly glowed scarlet,**

**"You've forgotten something..."**

Everyone chuckled as Neville blushed and Ginny kissed his cheek.

**Neville was trying to remember what he'd forgotten when Draco Malfoy, who was passing the Gryffindor table, snatched the Remembrall out of his hand.**

There were many growls at this.

**Harry and Ron jumped to their feet. They were half hoping for a reason to fight Malfoy,**

"Of course you were," Lily sighed. She turned to her husband, "he gets that from you."

**but Professor McGonagall, who could spot trouble quicker than any teacher in the school, **

"Because of years of practice," Both McGonagall's stated, glaring at their respective sets of marauders.

**was there in a flash.**

**"What's going on?"**

**"Malfoy's got my Remembrall, Professor."**

**Scowling, Malfoy quickly dropped the Remembrall back on the table.**

**"Just looking," he said, and he sloped away with Crabbe and Goyle behind him.**

**At three-thirty that afternoon, Harry, Ron, and the other Gryffindors hurried down the front steps onto the grounds for their first flying lesson.**

"YES!" James and Prongs roared.

**It was a clear, breezy day, and the grass rippled under their feet as they marched down the sloping lawns toward a smooth, flat lawn on the opposite side of the grounds to the forbidden forest, whose trees were swaying darkly in the distance.**

"Excellent quidditch conditions," James and Prongs said, padfoot, Sirius, Lucius and Regulus didn't say anything but obviously agreed.

**The Slytherins were already there, and so were twenty broomsticks lying in neat lines on the ground. Harry had heard Fred and George Weasley complain about the school brooms, saying that some of them started to vibrate if you flew too high, or always flew slightly to the left.**

**Their teacher, Madam Hooch, arrived. She had short, gray hair, and yellow eyes like a hawk.**

"Why are her eyes like that?" Padfoot asked.

"I heard it was from a botched animagus revealing potion, she changed successfully but her eyes never changed back," Harry said.

**"Well, what are you all waiting for?" she barked. "Everyone stand by a broomstick. Come on, hurry up."**

**Harry glanced down at his broom. It was old and some of the twigs stuck out at odd angles.**

"One of the better ones," Bill said as his mother was about to ask if it was safe, making her pale significantly.

**"Stick out your right hand over your broom," called Madam Hooch at the front, "and say 'Up!"'**

**"UP" everyone shouted.**

**Harry's broom jumped into his hand at once,**

James shot Harry a suspicious look.

**but it was one of the few that did. Hermione Granger's had simply rolled over on the ground, and Neville's hadn't moved at all. **

**Perhaps brooms, like horses, could tell when you were afraid, thought Harry; there was a quaver in Neville's voice that said only too clearly that he wanted to keep his feet on the ground.**

"Interesting theory," Remus and Dumbledore said.

**Madam Hooch then showed them how to mount their brooms without sliding off the end, and walked up and down the rows correcting their grips. Harry and Ron were delighted when she told Malfoy he'd been doing it wrong for years.**

A few people sniggered.

**"Now, when I blow my whistle, you kick off from the ground, hard," said Madam Hooch. "Keep your brooms steady, rise a few feet, and then come straight back down by leaning forward slightly. On my whistle - three - two -"**

**But Neville, nervous and jumpy and frightened of being left on the ground, pushed off hard before the whistle had touched Madam Hooch's lips.**

**"Come back, boy!" she shouted, but Neville was rising straight up like a cork shot out of a bottle - twelve feet - twenty feet.**

"Oh Merlin" Sirius exclaimed softly, realising the broom was faulty.

**Harry saw his scared white face look down at the ground falling away, saw him gasp, slip sideways off the broom**

Alice squeaked and ran over and hugged her son, who went bright red but returned the hug.

**and – WHAM - a thud and a nasty crack and Neville lay face down on the grass in a heap.**

"Are you ok?" Alice asked, fright clear on her face.

"I was fine," Neville reassured her.

**His broomstick was still rising higher and higher, and started to drift lazily toward the forbidden forest and out of sight.**

**Madam Hooch was bending over Neville, her face as white as his.**

**"Broken wrist," Harry heard her mutter. "Come on, boy - it's all right, up you get."**

**She turned to the rest of the class.**

**"None of you is to move while I take this boy to the hospital wing! You leave those brooms where they are or you'll be out of Hogwarts before you can say 'Quidditch.' Come on, dear."**

"She really expected nothing to happen after leaving a group of Gryffindors and Slytherins alone with brooms?" Charlus asked, speaking for the first time in a while.

**Neville, his face tear-streaked, clutching his wrist, hobbled off with Madam Hooch, who had her arm around him.**

**No sooner were they out of earshot than Malfoy burst into laughter.**

There was a round of growls and a few choice swear words from Regulus who'd read ahead.

**"Did you see his face, the great lump?"**

"Neville's a finer man than you," Harry snarled.

**The other Slytherins joined in.**

**"Shut up, Malfoy," snapped Parvati Patil.**

"Remind me to thank her when we get back,"

**"Ooh, sticking up for Longbottom?" said Pansy Parkinson, a hard-faced Slytherin girl. **

"Hard faced? Don't you think that's a bit generous?" Hermione spat out suddenly, surprising everyone who didn't know Pansy was to her, like Malfoy was Harry's.

Harry smiled and started rubbing gentle circles in her back as Dan and Emma sent their daughter a look.

**"Never thought you'd like fat little crybabies, Parvati."**

"Better Neville than scum like Malfoy," Ginny shouted.

**"Look!" said Malfoy, darting forward and snatching something out of the grass. "It's that stupid thing Longbottom's gran sent him."**

"Don't you dare touch it!" Frank snapped.

**The Remembrall glittered in the sun as he held it up.**

**"Give that here, Malfoy," said Harry quietly.**

"Always stand by your friends," Sirius said.

**Everyone stopped talking to watch.**

**Malfoy smiled nastily.**

**"I think I'll leave it somewhere for Longbottom to find - how about - up a tree?"**

There were several angry shouts before Regulus continued reading.

**"Give it here!" Harry yelled, but Malfoy had leapt onto his broomstick and taken off.**

**He hadn't been lying, he could fly well.**

"Really?" Padfoot spluttered before Narcissa slapped him.

**Hovering level with the topmost branches of an oak he called, "Come and get it, Potter!"**

Lily and James groaned, Dan and Emma along with Remus, Sirius, Arthur and Molly looked concerned.

**Harry grabbed his broom.**

"No, don't" Lily begged quietly.

**"No!" shouted Hermione Granger. "Madam Hooch told us not to move - you'll get us all into trouble."**

"Never thought I'd say this, but listen to her," James said quietly.

He shrank behind his best friend as both his wife and son's girlfriend glared at him.

**Harry ignored her.**

Lily shot James a glare at the same time Evans sent one at prongs, both men flinched and looked sheepish.

**Blood was pounding in his ears. He mounted the broom and kicked hard against the ground and up, up he soared; air rushed through his hair, and his robes whipped out behind him -and in a rush of fierce joy he realized he'd found something he could do without being taught - this was easy, this was wonderful.**

"B-b-but, you s-said," James spluttered, Sirius' jaw had dropped and even Lily was looking amazed as Remus siled.

"I said I never tried out," Harry said, smiling smugly. "I said I was forced on the team, I said I was the best available to the captain at the time, I _NEVER_ said I was a bad flier."

James and Sirius exchanged a stunned look as the twins looked about to pass out at the prank Harry pulled on their idols. Evans pulled prongs back into his seat from the crazy dance he'd been doing for the past five minutes.

**He pulled his broomstick up a little to take it even higher, and heard screams and gasps of girls back on the ground and an admiring whoop from Ron.**

Both sets of marauders cheered.

**He turned his broomstick sharply to face Malfoy in mid-air. **

**Malfoy looked stunned.**

"He wasn't the only one," Hermione told Harry, Ron, Lavender and Neville nodded in agreement.

**"Give it here," Harry called, "or I'll knock you off that broom!"**

"Do it," the twins shouted.

**"Oh, yeah?" said Malfoy, trying to sneer, but looking worried.**

"He should be," older James smirked.

**Harry knew, somehow, what to do. He leaned forward and grasped the broom tightly in both hands, and it shot toward Malfoy like a javelin. Malfoy only just got out of the way in time; Harry made a sharp about-face and held the broom steady. A few people below were clapping.**

**"No Crabbe and Goyle up here to save your neck, Malfoy," Harry called.**

"You tell him Harry,"

**The same thought seemed to have struck Malfoy.**

"Oh no,"

**"Catch it if you can, then!" he shouted, and he threw the glass ball high into the air and streaked back toward the ground.**

James eyes widened. "No, Don't do it," Charlie shouted. Lily went pale and went over to Harry, pulled him away from Hermione and hugged him to her.

Everyone who wasn't there looked worried.

**Harry saw, as though in slow motion, the ball rise up in the air and then start to fall. He leaned forward and pointed his broom handle down**

"No, no, no, no, no," Lily muttered very pale now and hugging her son tighter.

"Wait," Charlie said, his fear addled brain registering something, "you saw it fall in slow-motion?"

"Yeah"

"Harry, only a few natural born seekers can do that," Sirius told him, he and James looked awestruck.

**- next second he was gathering speed in a steep dive, racing the ball - wind whistled in his ears, mingled with the screams of people watching - he stretched out his hand - a foot from the ground he caught it, just in time to pull his broom straight, and he toppled gently onto the grass with the Remembrall clutched safely in his fist.**

"YES!" prongs and padfoot yelled, after a few minutes of total silence as what was read sank in.

"I LOVE MY SON!" James yelled, running over to hug Harry, who was still being hugged by Lily.

The other quidditch players stared at him, not quite comprehending how naturally talented Harry was.

Lily loosened her grip and told Harry he was grounded for pulling that stunt, ignoring the protests that it was four years ago from Harry and James as everyone laughed.

**"HARRY POTTER!"**

"Busted" Ginny sang.

**His heart sank faster than he'd just dived. Professor McGonagall was running toward them. He got to his feet, trembling.**

**"Never - in all my time at Hogwarts -" Professor McGonagall was almost speechless with shock, and her glasses flashed furiously, "- how dare you - might have broken your neck -"**

"Oh wow, I took a LOT to make her that mad at us," Sirius said softly, though everyone heard him.

"Yeah," James agreed, not noticing his wife glaring at him. "It took us sticking half the people in each house to the common room's ceilings to make her that mad."

"You did WHAT!" Evans screamed at prongs, who protested that they hadn't done that, but got slapped hard when he told padfoot, not as quietly as he hoped, that it was a good idea.

**"It wasn't his fault, Professor -"**

**"Be quiet, Miss Patil**

"At least let them explain, Minnie," Remus and Lily groaned.

Minerva did look a little ashamed, seeing her actions from her students point of view did make her look bad.

**"But Malfoy -"**

**"That's enough, Mr. Weasley. Potter, follow me, now."**

**Harry caught sight of Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle's triumphant faces as he left, walking numbly in Professor McGonagall's wake as she strode toward the castle. He was going to be expelled, he just knew it. **

"No, if we weren't expelled then you won't be," James said.

"And how many times did you risk it?" Harry asked, making him, Sirius and Remus look very guilty.

**He wanted to say something to defend himself, but there seemed to be something wrong with his voice. **

**Professor McGonagall was sweeping along without even looking at him; he had to jog to keep up. Now he'd done it. He hadn't even lasted two weeks. He'd be packing his bags in ten minutes. What would the Dursleys say when he turned up on the doorstep? No, he couldn't go back, he wouldn't survive one night if he did.**

Minerva paled suddenly as everyone stared at Harry, Violet shook her head in disbelief, 'was it really that bad?'

**Up the front steps, up the marble staircase inside, and still Professor McGonagall didn't say a word to him. She wrenched open doors and marched along corridors with Harry trotting miserably behind her. Maybe she was taking him to Dumbledore. He thought of Hagrid, expelled but allowed to stay on as gamekeeper. Perhaps he could be Hagrid's assistant. His stomach twisted as he imagined it, watching Ron and the others becoming wizards, while he stumped around the grounds carrying Hagrid's bag. But that was still better than the Dursleys.**

"Pessimist," someone muttered.

"If you lived my life could you say the same?" Harry demanded angrily.

**Professor McGonagall stopped outside a classroom. She opened the door and poked her head inside.**

**"Excuse me, Professor Flitwick, could I borrow Wood for a moment?"**

**Wood? thought Harry, bewildered; was Wood a cane she was going to use on him?**

Minerva and McGonagall were shocked and offended, "I would never…"

"Look at it from where I'm standing, the only disciplinary measures I'm familiar with are barbaric by comparison," Harry explained, calming both witches slightly but making everyone growl except Dan, Emma and Violet who gasped.

**But Wood turned out to be a person, a burly fifth-year boy who came out of Flitwick's class looking confused.**

"Naturally, he's just been pulled from his OWL class by his head of house to find a scrawny, specky midget with her," the twins teased.

**"Follow me, you two," said Professor McGonagall, and they marched on up the corridor, Wood looking curiously at Harry.**

**"In here."** **Professor McGonagall pointed them into a classroom that was empty except for Peeves, who was busy writing rude words on the blackboard.**

"You taught him those, didn't you," Lily sighed as James and Sirius went red and everyone else laughed.

**"Out, Peeves!" she barked. Peeves threw the chalk into a bin, which clanged loudly, and he swooped out cursing. Professor McGonagall slammed the door behind him and turned to face the two boys.**

**"Potter, this is Oliver Wood. Wood - I've found you a Seeker."**

"No" James started

"Fricking" Sirius continued.

"Way" Remus finished incredulously.

"You made the team in first year?" Prongs demanded, his voice so high pitched everyone thought his trousers had been shrunk.

"Yes, I told you I didn't try out," Harry replied, watching prongs carefully as he began muttering quietly to himself, oblivious of everyone. "I just didn't say which year," he added smirking at his father.

Everyone ignored prongs' now rapid descent into insanity and stared at Harry and Minerva in awe.

**Wood's expression changed from puzzlement to delight.**

**"Are you serious, Professor?"**

Padfoot opened his mouth but Regulus cut him off, his eyebrows rising into his hairline as he read.

"**Wasn't Sirius my godfather?" Harry asked, between the fear of punishment and confusion at whatever was happening his mind wasn't quite thinking straight.**

"You remembered?" Sirius asked.

"No, but I had gone to Minnie on Saturday and asked about mum and dad, she told me a bit about you all and promised to make time to talk to me about you all after learning that the Dursleys kept me in the dark," Harry explained, "Although she didn't tell me everything until third year," he added, scowling a little.

Minerva looked a little ashamed but did not apologise.

**Wood gave Harry a confused look before he connected the dots and sniggered as Professor McGonagall groaned and pinched the bridge of her nose. "I had hoped I would never hear that terrible pun again after your godfather graduated, it seems to have been in vain."**

Harry shrugged sheepishly as Minerva sent him a pointed look.

**Her previous enthusiasm came back quickly as she continued. "The boy's a natural. I've never seen anything like it. Was that your first time on a broomstick, Potter?"**

"No," Lily, James, Sirius and Remus said.

"Toy broomstick from before I can remember doesn't count," Harry said.

**Harry nodded silently. He didn't have a clue what was going on, but he didn't seem to be being expelled, and some of the feeling started coming back to his legs.**

**"He caught that thing in his hand after a fifty-foot dive," Professor McGonagall told Wood. "Didn't even scratch himself. Charlie Weasley couldn't have done it."**

"I could too!" Charlie cried indignantly.

"On a school broom," Harry asked and Charlie went quiet, making everyone laugh.

**Wood was now looking as though all his dreams had come true at once.**

The twins sniggered as they remembered Wood that week.

**"Ever seen a game of Quidditch, Potter?" he asked excitedly.**

"Raised by muggles," Harry muttered angrily as Hermione giggled.

**"Wood's captain of the Gryffindor team," Professor McGonagall explained.**

**"He's just the build for a Seeker, too," said Wood, now walking around Harry and staring at him. "Light - speedy - we'll have to get him a decent broom, Professor - a Nimbus Two Thousand or a Cleansweep Seven, I'd say."**

"Go for the Nimbus," the quidditch players cried.

**I shall speak to Professor Dumbledore and see if we can't bend the first-year rule. Heaven knows, we need a better team than last year. Flattened in that last match by Slytherin, I couldn't look Severus Snape in the face for weeks..."**

Prongs whimpered a little as he came back to earth to hear that. Padfoot wasn't much better, neither were their older selves.

**Professor McGonagall peered sternly over her glasses at Harry.**

**"I want to hear you're training hard, Potter, or I may change my mind about punishing you."**

**Then she suddenly smiled.**

**"Your father would have been proud,"**

"You bet I am!" James spluttered.

**she said. "He was an excellent Quidditch player himself."**

"Thanks Minnie," prongs and James said together, making both women smile.

**"You're joking."**

"She's not!" Prongs shouted, jumping out of his seat.

"New paragraph, idiot," Regulus told him.

James sat back down looking sheepish.

**It was dinnertime. Harry had just finished telling Ron what had happened when he'd left the grounds with Professor McGonagall. Ron had a piece of steak and kidney pie halfway to his mouth, but he'd forgotten all about it.**

"You made Ron to forget about food?" Fred and George asked, looking at Harry in wonder.

"I…" Ron started to protest.

THUMP!

Everyone looked round to see Tonks trying to revive Charlie.

"They told me you could do the impossible, Harry, but I never imagined that was possible, Ron's bottomless stomach is legendary," Bill teased, smirking as Ron went red.

**"Seeker?" he said. "But first years never - you must be the youngest house player in about a century, said Harry, shoveling pie into his mouth. He felt particularly hungry after the excitement of the afternoon. "Wood told me."**

**Ron was so amazed, so impressed, he just sat and gaped at Harry.**

"Ron!" Molly scolded.

**"I start training next week," said Harry. "Only don't tell anyone, Wood wants to keep it a secret."**

"Not going to happen" padfoot stated, frowning at the knowing grins on Harry, Ron, Hermione and Neville's faces.

"You'd be surprised," Hermione said mysteriously.

"I have a feeling that many secrets will be revealed during the readings," Dumbledore said.

**Fred and George Weasley now came into the hall, spotted Harry, and hurried over.**

**"Well done," said George in a low voice. "Wood told us. We're on the team too - Beaters."**

The twins stood up and bowed.

**"I tell you, we're going to win that Quidditch cup for sure this year," said Fred. "We haven't won since Charlie left, but this year's team is going to be brilliant. You must be good, Harry, Wood was almost skipping when he told us."**

"Now I think about it, he _was_ skipping," Fred said thoughtfully.

"Sounds like there's a quidditch captain more obsessed than you, James," Remus teased.

James went bright red and ignored him.

**"Anyway, we've got to go, Lee Jordan reckons he's found a new secret passageway out of the school."**

**"Bet it's that one behind the statue of Gregory the Smarmy that we found in our first week. See you."**

"It was," the twins said.

**Fred and George had hardly disappeared when someone far less welcome turned up: Malfoy, flanked by Crabbe and Goyle.**

**"Having a last meal, Potter? When are you getting the train back to the Muggles?"**

There were growls at this.

**"You're a lot braver now that you're back on the ground and you've got your little boyfriends with you," said Harry coolly.**

"Nice" Sirius said

**There was of course nothing at all little about Crabbe and Goyle, but as the High Table was full of teachers, neither of them could do more than crack their knuckles and scowl.**

"That's right," prongs said but Evans hit him again.

**Malfoy's cheeks went a pale pink at this and he sneered at them. "I'd take you on anytime on my own," said Malfoy. "Tonight, if you want. Wizard's duel. Wands only - no contact. What's the matter? Never heard of a wizard's duel before, I suppose?"**

"Don't you dare accept!" Lily said sternly.

"_I_ didn't plan to," Harry protested as Hermione glared at Ron who had gone red and looked like he was trying to apparate or disillusion himself without a wand.

**Harry knew that Malfoy didn't have the authority to issue a duel challenge because he was underage, even if he was of age his position as Heir Apparent to House Malfoy meant he couldn't legally do so as there was no-one else in the direct line of succession to take his place, besides any official duel had to be approved by the headmaster if held on Hogwarts grounds and the Head of House Malfoy also had to grant his permission.**

Everyone stared at Harry, amazed at his knowledge of Pureblood duelling customs.

"How did you know?" Lucius asked.

"I bought a few books on Wizard customs and laws remember, I didn't want to be caught out by something like this," Harry explained.

"I really should have followed you advice," Hermione grumbled, remembering her problems with certain parts of the wizarding world in her first three years.

**Harry was about to ask whether his Head of Family and the Headmaster had consented to the duel when Ron opened his mouth.**

**"Of course he has," said Ron, wheeling around. "I'm his second, who's yours?"**

"YOU DON'T GO AROUND ACCEPTING OTHER PEOPLE'S DUELS!" Molly screamed.

"Yeah, that was a stupid move Ron," George added.

"Even we were never that stupid," padfoot said, shaking his head.

**Malfoy looked at Crabbe and Goyle, sizing them up.**

**"Crabbe," he said. "Midnight all right? We'll meet you in the trophy room; that's always unlocked."**

**When Malfoy had gone, Ron and Harry looked at each other. "You do know he couldn't actually issue a challenge? And that I could get him punished by the Head of his Family for improper conduct? And that **_**ALL**_** duels on Hogwarts grounds must be approved by the headmaster?" Harry asked.**

**"Well, err… no," said Ron sheepishly, getting started at last on his cold pie as Harry stared at him incredulously. "And why do I need you as a second?"**

"**In case you die," Ron said casually. Catching the look on Harry's face, he added quickly, "But people only die in proper duels, you know, with real wizards. **

"Then what _are_ we, Ron?" Harry said sarcastically.

**The most you and Malfoy'll be able to do is send sparks at each other. Neither of you knows enough magic to do any real damage. I bet he expected you to refuse, anyway."**

**Harry privately agreed to the last bit but betted that he could break both Malfoy and Crabbe's legs and leave them for Filch if he needed to. "And what if I wave my wand and nothing happens?"**

"Throw it aside and clock him, you've got a nasty left, Harry," Neville suggested.

**"Throw it away and punch him on the nose," Ron suggested. **

Several people laughed as Neville shrugged.

**"Excuse me."**

**They both looked up. It was Hermione Granger, looking quite nervous and Harry wasn't sure it was entirely to do with confronting them on their previous conversation.**

Hermione blushed and mumbled into Harry's chest about 'being nervous of talking to her crush' and 'over-observant, specky midgets'.

**"Can't a person eat in peace in this place?" said Ron.**

Molly glared at her youngest son, who tried his hardest to ignore it.

**Hermione ignored him and spoke to Harry, who was staring in disbelief at his friend.**

"You don't go around being rude to a girl because you feel like it," Harry said indignantly, making Ron look even more ashamed of himself.

**"I couldn't help overhearing what you and Malfoy were saying -"**

"Bet you could," padfoot muttered despite himself and got slapped by Marlene for it.

**"Bet you could," Ron muttered.**

Marlene, padfoot and everyone who'd heard him stared.

"Ron!" Molly scolded again.

**"-and you mustn't go wandering around the school at night, think of the points you'll lose Gryffindor if you're caught, and you're bound to be. It's really very selfish of you."**

"I was so bossy," Hermione mumbled sadly, "No wonder no one wanted to be my friend."

Everyone looked at her sadly, Severus, moony, Evans, Lily and Remus even had tears in their eyes, all sending her an understanding look.

"I was right though, you were nice enough once you mellowed out, even Lavender, Parvati, Fay and Cheryl said so," Harry told her quietly, hugging her comfortingly. Hermione seemed surprised her roommates would have said that in first year.

He then pulled her into a tighter hug and laid his chin on her shoulder, whispering sadly into her ear, "I only wish I had said something sooner that what came never had to happen."

Hermione pushed him up and looked him in the eyes, "It wasn't your fault, you couldn't have known. Besides, Ron is the one who should have known better than to dare a know-it-all," Hermione told him firmly before grinning cheekily at the end.

"How can you joke about that? You know what happened, and what nearly happened," Harry said sternly, that night was not something he'd ever joke about.

"Because we're alive and I've moved on from it," Hermione retorted.

Harry conceded her point, remembering his words about the Dursleys earlier, as everyone turned away from their ended conversation and back to Regulus, but he knew he'd be talking to his parents about this later.

**"And it's really none of your business," Harry gently said, trying not to offend her but still get his point across. "If we get caught, we get punished. But they have to catch us first."**

James and Prongs smiled at that but both yelped as their wife or girlfriend slapped them

**"Good-bye," said Ron.**

"That was rude," Arthur scolded.

"We were very rude to each other until Halloween," Harry admitted ashamed of his actions or lack of in some cases.

**All the same, it wasn't what you'd call the perfect end to the day, Harry thought, as he lay awake much later listening to Dean and Seamus falling asleep (Neville wasn't back from the hospital wing). **

"What? Why?" Alice said worried.

"Madame Pomfrey is good, but a bit of a fussy mother hen about her patients' care," Prongs explained, wincing slightly as he remembered all the failed attempts the marauders had made to spring one of their number from her care.

James, Sirius and Remus were having similar thoughts and painful memories.

**Ron had spent all evening giving him advice such as "If he tries to curse you, you'd better dodge it, because I can't remember how to block them."**

"Good, not all spells _can_ be blocked," Moody grunted.

Ron blushed and looked very pleased with himself.

**There was a very good chance they were going to get caught by Filch or Mrs. Norris, and Harry felt he was pushing his luck, breaking another school rule today. **

**On the other hand, Malfoys sneering face kept looming up out of the darkness - this was his big chance to beat Malfoy face-to-face. He couldn't miss it.**

"Just like your father," Snape muttered, although without the usual venom.

**"Half-past eleven," Ron muttered at last, "we'd better go."**

**They pulled on their bathrobes, picked up their wands, and crept across the tower room, down the spiral staircase, and into the Gryffindor common room. A few embers were still glowing in the fireplace, turning all the armchairs into hunched black shadows. They had almost reached the portrait hole when a voice spoke from the chair nearest them, "I can't believe you're going to do this, Harry."**

**A lamp flickered on. It was Hermione Granger, wearing a pink bathrobe, fuzzy slippers and a frown.**

**"You!" said Ron furiously. "Go back to bed!"**

**"I almost told your brother," Hermione snapped, "Percy - he's a prefect, he'd put a stop to this."**

"You should have," Evans said, "They are breaking the rules! They deserve dentition!"

"We hadn't even made it off the stairs, if she'd told the best Percy could come up with would be 'Conspiracy to sneak out after curfew', there _aren't_ any rules that say we can't plan something as long as we aren't caught doing it," Harry said as his mother went to say something, making Lily stare and Evans fold her arms and sulk after realising he was right.

Both sets of marauders and the twins smiled proudly at the way he manipulated the rules while Lily sat shocked.

**Harry couldn't believe anyone could be so interfering.**

"I'm sorry," Harry said, hanging his head in shame.

Hermione kissed him softly and told him to forget it.

**"Come on," he said to Ron. He pushed open the portrait of the Fat Lady and climbed through the hole.**

**Hermione wasn't going to give up that easily.**

"She never does," Harry and Ron said proudly.

**She followed Ron through the portrait hole, hissing at them like an angry cat.**

Harry went to apologise as several people laughed but Hermione silenced him with another kiss.

**"Don't you care about Gryffindor, do you only care about yourselves, I don't want Slytherin to win the house cup, and you'll lose all the points I got from Professor McGonagall for knowing about Switching Spells."**

"Oh wow," Sirius said quietly as everyone stared at a now blushing Hermione.

"Moony," padfoot said, "I think we found the one girl who reads more than you."

Moony and Remus glared at the younger dog animagus as everyone else laughed, laughing harder as padfoot started looking around confused, not understanding his (forgive the pun) serious delivery had made his comment into a joke.

The teachers, however, were congratulating Hermione on being capable of third year spells in first year.

**"Go away." "All right, but I warned you, you just remember what I said when you're on the train home tomorrow, you're so -"**

**But what they were, they didn't find out. Hermione had turned to the portrait of the Fat Lady to get back inside and found herself facing an empty painting. **

"So many detentions could have been avoided if she didn't do that," Sirius groaned.

**The Fat Lady had gone on a night time visit and Hermione was locked out of Gryffindor tower.**

**"Now what am I going to do?" she asked shrilly.**

**"That's your problem," said Ron. "We've got to go, we're going to be late."**

**They hadn't even reached the end of the corridor when Hermione caught up with them.**

**"I'm coming with you," she said.**

"Why?" Evans and prongs asked.

"I wanted to be friends at that point, but went the wrong way about it," Hermione said before blushing. "I was also a little frightened at being locked out of the tower," she admitted.

**"You are not."**

"Yeah," padfoot said but got slapped again.

**"D'you think I'm going to stand out here and wait for Filch to catch me? If he finds all three of us I'll tell him the truth, that I was trying to stop you, and you can back me up."**

"They wouldn't do that," the younger marauders said.

"I would," Harry told them defiantly.

"Only cause you fancied her," padfoot retorted but yelped as he was slapped again.

"No, because I have a shred of common decency, unlike certain unnamed mutts," Harry shot back.

**"You've got some nerve -" said Ron loudly.**

"You're making too much noise," Remus said.

**"Shut up, both of you!" said Harry sharply, "I heard something."**

**It was a sort of snuffling.**

"Mrs Norris?" Marlene asked.

**"Mrs. Norris?" breathed Ron, squinting through the dark.**

**It wasn't Mrs. Norris. It was Neville. He was curled up on the floor, fast asleep, but jerked suddenly awake as they crept nearer.**

"Why were you there," Frank asked.

**"Thank goodness you found me! I've been out here for hours, I couldn't remember the new password to get in to bed."**

Harry, Ron and Hermione shook their heads fondly at Neville's forgetfulness as Alice blushed..

**"Keep your voice down, Neville. The password's 'Pig snout' but it won't help you now, the Fat Lady's gone off somewhere."**

"And there's four of you out after curfew," Evans complained.

"Not like it hasn't happened before," Harry teased, looking at prongs, who was now sweating bullets as his girlfriend frowned at him.

**"How's your arm?" said Harry.**

"So thoughtful," one of the girls said again.

**"Fine," said Neville, showing them. "Madam Pomfrey mended it in about a minute."**

"She can heal anything, but is rather fussy afterwards," remembering the number of quidditch and full-moon related injuries the woman had treated..

**"Good - well, look, Neville, we've got to be somewhere, we'll see you later -"**

**"Don't leave me!" said Neville, scrambling to his feet, "I don't want to stay here alone, the Bloody Baron's been past twice already."**

"Scared?" Bill asked. "He's a ghost, he can't hurt you."

"You haven't seen him put a long sword through the breastplate on a suit of armour in the armoury, have you?" Harry muttered, unfortunately Bill and everyone else heard him.

**Ron looked at his watch and then glared furiously at Hermione and Neville.**

**"If either of you get us caught, I'll never rest until I've learned that Curse of the Bogies Quirrell told us about, and used it on you."**

**Hermione opened her mouth, perhaps to tell Ron exactly how to use the Curse of the Bogies, **

Hermione suddenly squeaked and stared at her boyfriend, "How did you know?"

James and Lily exchanged a look and another with Dan and Emma, 'They could predict each-other's actions or thoughts after only a few weeks?"

**but Harry hissed at her to be quiet and beckoned them all forward.**

Lily was about to scold Harry for his rudeness but was interrupted.

"You hissed, you know? Actually hissed," Hermione said, surprising Harry and everyone else.

"I spoke parseltongue?" Harry wondered aloud, surprising and confusing several people who hadn't known.

**They flitted along corridors striped with bars of moonlight from the high windows. At every turn Harry expected to run into Filch or Mrs. Norris, but they were lucky. They sped up a staircase to the third floor and tiptoed toward the trophy room.**

**Malfoy and Crabbe weren't there yet. **

**The crystal trophy cases glimmered where the moonlight caught them. Cups, shields, plates, and statues winked silver and gold in the darkness. **

**They edged along the walls, keeping their eyes on the doors at either end of the room. Harry took out his wand in case Malfoy leapt in and started at once, Harry wouldn't put it past him given his choice of time and place**

"Good, never underestimate your enemy," Moody grunted approvingly**. **

**The minutes crept by, the clock tower chimed the quarter hour.**

**"He's late, maybe he's chickened out," Ron whispered.**

"**He's not coming, we'd better bug out before Filch shows," Harry agreed, waving Hermione and Neville towards the door.**

**The four crept out of the room and were halfway to the staircase when a noise from down the corridor, a room next to the trophy room, made them jump.**** Harry had only just raised his wand when they heard someone speak -and it wasn't Malfoy.**

**"Sniff around, my sweet, they might be lurking in a corner."**

"Damn it," padfoot muttered.

**It was Filch speaking to Mrs. Norris. Horror-struck, Harry waved madly at the other three to follow him as quickly as possible; they scurried silently toward the staircase, away from Filch's voice. Neville's robes had barely whipped round the corner when they heard Filch enter the trophy room.**

**"They're in here somewhere," they faintly heard him mutter, "probably hiding."**

"Get out of there," Remus said.

**Harry signalled for the others to follow him and, petrified, they began to creep down a long gallery full of suits of armour. **

"Third floor Armoury," Harry, Hermione, James and Regulus said.

**They could hear Filch searching the trophy room. Neville suddenly let out a frightened squeak and broke into a run -he tripped, grabbed Ron around the waist, and the pair of them toppled right into a suit of armor.**

Alice groaned and muttered about her son inheriting her clumsiness as Tonks playfully said, "Klutz"

**The clanging and crashing were enough to wake the whole castle.**

"Run!" prongs yelled

**"RUN!" Harry yelled,**

Prongs and Harry stared at each other.

"Like father like son," Sirius and padfoot chorused.

**and the four of them sprinted down the gallery, not looking back to see whether Filch was following - they swung around the doorpost and galloped down one corridor then another, Harry in the lead, without any idea where they were or where they were going - they ripped through a tapestry and found themselves in a hidden passageway, hurtled along it and came out near their Charms classroom, which they knew was on the other side of the castle from the trophy room.**

**"I think we've lost him," Harry panted, leaning against the cold wall and wiping his forehead. Neville was bent double, wheezing and spluttering.**

"I was so unfit," Neville groaned.

"Not your fault, Harry runs like there's a hellhound after him, we always struggle to keep up," Ron countered.

**I - told -you," Hermione gasped, clutching at the stitch in her chest, "I - told - you."**

**"We've got to get back to Gryffindor tower," said Ron, "quickly as possible."**

**"Malfoy tricked you," Hermione said to Harry. "You realize that, don't you? He was never going to meet you - Filch knew someone was going to be in the trophy room, Malfoy must have tipped him off."**

**Harry thought she was right, but he wasn't going to tell her that.**

"Of course not," Hermione rolled her eyes but giggled as he kissed her cheek.

**"Let's go."**

**It wasn't going to be that simple. They hadn't gone more than a dozen paces when a doorknob rattled and something came shooting out of a classroom in front of them.**

**It was Peeves. He caught sight of them and gave a squeal of delight.**

**"Shut up, Peeves - please - you'll get us thrown out."**

The twins and both sets of marauders groaned.

**Peeves cackled.**

**"Wandering around at midnight, Ickle Firsties? Tut, tut, tut. Naughty, naughty, you'll get caughty."**

**"Not if you don't give us away, Peeves, please."**

**"Should tell Filch, I should," said Peeves in a saintly voice, but his eyes glittered wickedly. "It's for your own good, you know."**

**Harry knew of Peeves' reputation for getting students into trouble, but also knew he loved messing with Filch even more. Harry wondered if Peeves would agree to run interference in exchange for a little co-operation on a school wide prank later, but Ron never gave him time to ask.**

**"Get out of the way," snapped Ron, taking a swipe at Peeves this was a big mistake.**

"NO!" prongs, padfoot and moony yelled as James, Sirius and Remus said, "Idiot!"

**"STUDENTS OUT OF BED!" Peeves bellowed, "STUDENTS OUT OF BED DOWN THE CHARMS CORRIDOR"**

"How much trouble are we going to be in when they see where we end up?" Ron asked his friends, suddenly pale.

"Not sure, not sure I want to know" Harry gulped nervously, silently glad he had written a Will the previous year.

**Ducking under Peeves, they ran for their lives, right to the end of the corridor where they slammed into a door - and it was locked.**

**"This is it!" Ron moaned, as they pushed helplessly at the door, "We're done for! This is the end!"**

"Drama king," Sirius said, earning an indignant splutter from Ron and incredulous looks from everyone else.

**They could hear footsteps, Filch running as fast as he could toward Peeves' shouts.**

**"Oh, move over," Hermione snarled. She grabbed Harry's wand, tapped the lock, and whispered, "Alohomora!"**

**The lock clicked and the door swung open - they piled through it, shut it quickly, and pressed their ears against it, listening.**

Lily and James were looking intently at their son and his girlfriend, suddenly intrigued by this development.

Dan and Emma were also intrigued by what they heard, Mr Ollivander _had_ said that 'the wand chooses the wizard', so how could Hermione use Harry's wand so easily? They were going to have to talk to Harry's parents about this.

**"Which way did they go, Peeves?" Filch was saying. "Quick, tell me."**

**"Say 'please."'**

"Peeves won't give you away," James smirked.

**"Don't mess with me, Peeves, now where did they go?"**

**"Shan't say nothing if you don't say please," said Peeves in his annoying singsong voice.**

**"All right -please."**

**"NOTHING! Ha haaa! Told you I wouldn't say nothing if you didn't say please! Ha ha! Haaaaaa!" And they heard the sound of Peeves whooshing away and Filch cursing in rage.**

"Told you," younger James grinned.

**"He thinks this door is locked," Harry whispered. "I think we'll be okay - get off, Neville!" For Neville had been tugging on the sleeve of Harry's bathrobe for the last minute. "What?"**

"**God in Heaven!"**

"What?" screamed most of the women, making the men, especially Remus, moony and Harry, wince.

**Harry turned around - and saw, quite clearly, what. For a moment, he was sure he'd walked into a nightmare - this was too much, on top of everything that had happened so far.**

"What is it?" Evans gasped.

"Get out of there," Frank ordered.

**They weren't in a room, as he had supposed. They were in a corridor. The forbidden corridor on the third floor. And now they knew why it was forbidden.**

"Oh my God!" Emma exclaimed

**They were looking straight into the eyes of a monstrous dog, a dog that filled the whole space between ceiling and floor. It had three heads. Three pairs of rolling, mad eyes; three noses, twitching and quivering in their direction; three drooling mouths, saliva hanging in slippery ropes from yellowish fangs.**

"WHY THE HELL IS A CERBERUS IN A SCHOOL?!" Dorea screamed.

Dumbledore winced. An angry female Potter was commonly regarded as a force of nature

"I'm sure it'll be explained later," Dumbledore said.

"IT BETTER BE A GOOD REASON, BECAUSE IF ANYTHING HAPPENS TO MY SON SO HELP ME MERLIN YOU WILL WISH YOU WERE NEVER BORN!" Molly shouted, having already bundled Ron up in one of her infamous hugs to comfort herself.

Harry, Hermione and Neville were also being hugged tightly by their ashen faced mothers.

"Why wasn't that hall locked up tighter than Fort Knox?" Harry managed to ask despite the crushing force threatening to break his ribs, directing his question to Minerva.

"We were told it was," Snape and Minerva replied, dark looks on their faces at the revelation.

**It was standing quite still, all six eyes staring at them, and Harry knew that the only reason they weren't already dead was that their sudden appearance had taken it by surprise, but it was quickly getting over that, there was no mistaking what those thunderous growls meant.**

**Harry looked up and spotted a narrow arch between him and the dog, he raised his wand, having got it back from Hermione, and cast a **_**'Bombarda'**_** at it as the dog took a step forward.**

"What?"

**The concussive blast sent debris and sandstone dust into the eyes and noses of all three heads making the dog step back, whimpering audibly as it blinked furiously before each head sneezed several times.**

**With the dog distracted, Ron groped for the doorknob - between Filch and death, he'd take Filch.**

"Smart choice," Lucius said faintly.

**They fell backward - Harry slammed the door shut, and they ran, they almost flew, back down the corridor. **

**Filch must have hurried off to look for them somewhere else, because they didn't see him anywhere, but they hardly cared - all they wanted to do was put as much space as possible between them and that monster. **

**They didn't stop running until they reached the portrait of the Fat Lady on the seventh floor.**

**"Where on earth have you all been?" she asked, looking at their bathrobes hanging off their shoulders and their flushed, sweaty faces.**

"Why does she ask? She knows we'll never answer." Padfoot said.

**"Never mind that - pig snout, pig snout," panted Harry, and the portrait swung forward. They scrambled into the common room and collapsed, trembling, into armchairs.**

**It was a while before any of them said anything. Neville, indeed, looked as if he'd never speak again.**

**"What do they think they're doing, keeping a thing like that locked up in a school?" said Ron finally. "If any dog needs exercise, that one does."**

"You just escaped getting eaten and you're joking?" Evans said, her voice very high pitched.

**Harry shot Ron an incredulous look, as Hermione glared at him.**

**Hermione had got both her breath and her bad temper back again. "You don't use your eyes, any of you, do you?" she snapped. "Didn't you see what it was standing on?"**

**"The floor?" Ron suggested. "I wasn't looking at its feet, I was rather preoccupied with its heads. In case you didn't notice, it had THREE!""**

**"No, not the floor." Harry said, he was staring into the fire with a faraway look. "It's on a trapdoor, it's guarding something. Something that must be important to warrant a Cerberus to guard it."**

Nearly everyone groaned, while Tonks looked amazed and Moody nodded approvingly.

**She stood up, glaring at them. "Now, if you don't mind, I'm going to bed, before either of you come up with another idea to get us killed - or worse, expelled"**

"How is being expelled worse than being killed?" Prongs asked incredulously.

"I was naïve and excited about being in this new world, I didn't want to risk being cast out," Hermione explained, blushing hard.

**Ron stared after her, his mouth open.**

**"No, we don't mind," he said. "You'd think we dragged her along, wouldn't you."**

**But Hermione had given Harry something else to think about as he climbed back into bed. The dog was guarding something... What had Hagrid said? Gringotts was the safest place in the world for something you wanted to hide - except perhaps Hogwarts.**

**It looked as though Harry had found out where the grubby little package from vault seven hundred and thirteen was.**

"And that's it," Regulus said, marking the page.

"Please tell me you didn't go after it?" Sirius asked, shaking his head when all four fell silent.

"Who's reading next?"

"I will," Evans said, taking the book from Regulus, Prongs tried to read over her shoulder but she spun around in her seat put her feet in his lap, smiling when he pouted at her.

"**Chapter Ten – Halloween," **Evans began.


	12. Chapter 12-Halloween

Halloween

"**Chapter Ten – Halloween," **Evans read.

**Malfoy couldn't believe his eyes when he saw that Harry and Ron were still at Hogwarts the next day, looking tired but perfectly cheerful. **

"Idiot."

Lucius and Narcissa glared at padfoot.

"What? Face it, he should know better than that."

**Indeed, by the next morning Harry and Ron thought that meeting the three-headed dog had been an excellent adventure,**

"Adventure?" Lily asked incredulously, staring at her son.

"I was eleven," Harry protested. "And I didn't have Hermione to knock some common sense into me then."

**and they were quite keen to have another one. **

Lily groaned and glared at her husband, Sirius and Remus who all shrugged sheepishly.

**In the meantime, Harry filled Ron, and Neville after Harry convinced Ron to make a friend of him, in about the package that seemed to have been moved from Gringotts to Hogwarts, and they spent a lot of time wondering what could possibly need such heavy protection. "So, it's either really valuable…" said Ron.**

"**Or really dangerous," Neville finished. **

**"Or both," said Harry.**

Moody nodded approvingly again.

**But as all they knew for sure about the mysterious object was that it was about two inches long, wide and tall they didn't have much chance of guessing what it was without further clues.**

"Which I hope you don't get," Molly said sternly

**Hermione showed no interest in what lay underneath the dog and the trapdoor.**

"At that time," Hermione said quietly, but her parents heard her and paled, but rationalised that if they did return it had to be for a good reason

**And while Neville wanted to never go near the dog again, he had found he was rather curious after Harry had told him what he knew after he asked if he Neville to be his friend.**

Alice groaned, glad her son was making friends but wanting him nowhere near that dog.

**Hermione was now refusing to speak to Harry and Ron, but she was such a bossy know-it-all that Ron saw this as an added bonus.**

"RON!" Molly scolded, fast becoming disgusted with her son's behaviour.

"Sorry Hermione," he muttered, his face betraying how much he meant it despite how his delivery sounded.

**When he voiced this opinion, both Harry and Neville had hit him, saying she was just trying to fit in.**

An action repeated by Lavender and Ginny.

**Harry explained how sometimes when smart kids were bullied they retreated into books and relied on teachers and rules to protect them, now she was away from the bullies she was struggling to interact with other kids her age because she didn't know how, the bullies had never let her before.**

Dan and Emma stared, shocked that Harry had been able to understand their daughter's problems, but realised it was probably due to his own experiences.

**What they really wanted now was a way of getting back at Malfoy, and to their great delight, just such a thing arrived in the mail about a week later.**

**As the owls flooded into the Great Hall as usual, everyone's attention was caught at once by a long, thin package carried by six large screech owls. **

**Harry was just as interested as everyone else to see what was in this large parcel, and was amazed when the owls soared down and dropped it right in front of him, knocking his bacon to the floor. **

"Not the bacon," padfoot shouted, making everyone laugh at him.

**They had hardly fluttered out of the way when another owl dropped a letter on top of the parcel.**

**Harry ripped open the letter first, which was lucky, because it said:**

_**DO NOT OPEN THE PARCEL AT THE TABLE.**_

_**It contains your new Nimbus Two Thousand, but I don't want everybody knowing you've got a broomstick or they'll all want one. Oliver Wood will meet you tonight on the Quidditch pitch at seven o'clock for your first training session.**_

_**Professor McGonagall**_

"You got my son his first broom?" James asked his old teacher softly, his face looked happy but his eyes and voice betrayed a terrible sadness and loss.

Minerva simply nodded, unable to speak as she saw the emotional turmoil of her favourite student.

James got up and walked over to her, and gave her a heartfelt hug.

"Thank you," he whispered as they separated.

Evans waited for a moment, looking from James to her boyfriend to see him crying silently at the realisation he might not get the chance to teach his kids to fly and play quidditch.

In that moment, she felt her heart break. Potter had always been so arrogant, ignorant and cruel to those around, to see him so vulnerable…

She was dragged from her thoughts as James sat down, she started reading again, her voice shaking slightly.

**Harry had difficulty hiding his glee as he handed the note to Ron to read.**

**"A Nimbus Two Thousand!" Ron moaned enviously. "I've never even touched one."**

Tonks and padfoot sniggered as Charlie shook his head to rid himself of the inappropriate images that had popped up.

**Neville shot Ron a weirded out look and then looked to Harry but saw the same look on the black haired boys face too.**

"What?"

"The way you said it sounded really wrong"

"Its true mate, it sounds like something you'd hear from parki…"

"Stop! Please, I don't want such images of the pug in my head." Hermione begged.

**They left the hall quickly, wanting to unwrap the broomstick in private before their first class, but halfway across the entrance hall they found the way upstairs barred by Crabbe and Goyle. **

**Malfoy seized the package from Harry and felt it.**

"Don't," Harry pleaded as padfoot opened his mouth to joke. "For the love of God, Merlin and whoever else is listening, don't."

**"That's a broomstick," he said, throwing it back to Harry with a mixture of jealousy and spite on his face. "You'll be in for it this time, Potter, first years aren't allowed them."**

**Ron couldn't resist it.**

"Ron" Bill groaned as his mother glared and his father sent him a stern look.

**"It's not any old broomstick," he said, "it's a Nimbus Two Thousand. What did you say you've got at home, Malfoy, a Comet Two Sixty?" Ron grinned at Harry. "Comets look flashy, but they're not in the same league as the Nimbus."**

"True" several voices chorused.

**"What would you know about it, Weasley, you couldn't afford half the handle," Malfoy snapped back. "I suppose you and your brothers have to save up twig by twig."**

There was a chorus of angry protests, all the Weasleys were focused on not losing their tempers however.

**Before Ron could answer, or Neville could hit him, Professor Flitwick appeared at Malfoy's elbow.**

**"Not arguing, I hope, boys?" he squeaked.**

**"Potter's been sent a broomstick, Professor," said Malfoy quickly.**

**"Yes, yes, that's right," said Professor Flitwick, beaming at Harry. "Professor McGonagall told me all about the special circumstances, Potter. And what model is it?"**

"Nice" moony laughed, imagining the look on Malfoy junior's face.

**"A Nimbus Two Thousand, sit," said Harry, fighting not to laugh at the look of horror on Malfoy's face. "And it's really thanks to Malfoy here that I've got it," he added.**

The whole room was laughing, even Lucius and Narcissa.

"That was brilliant," the twins and both sets of marauders shouted.

**Harry, Ron and Neville headed upstairs, smothering their laughter at Malfoy's obvious rage and confusion. "Well, it's true," Harry chortled as they reached the top of the marble staircase, "If he hadn't stolen Neville's Remembrall I wouldn't be on the team..."**

**"So I suppose you think that's a reward for breaking rules?" came an angry voice from just behind them. Hermione was stomping up the stairs, looking disapprovingly at the package in Harry's hand.**

**"I thought you weren't speaking to us?" asked Harry.**

**"Yes, don't stop now," said Ron, "it's doing us so much good."**

**Ron missed the glare Harry sent him but Hermione didn't. "I didn't do it to show off like Malfoy, I did it to help a friend, one who couldn't defend himself, if you were in my place, would you do the same?"**

**For a brief moment, Hermione seemed conflicted but she marched away with her nose in the air.**

"How _did_ you four became friends?" Lucius asked, they seemed to be acting like prongs and Evans when they started.

**Harry had a lot of trouble keeping his mind on his lessons that day.**

"Oh Harry," Lily sighed.

"He gets this from you," she said to James who smirked then flinched from his wife's glare.

"Any other bloke would be the same," Sirius said, yelping as he ducked a salvo of hexes from Lily, Evans, Hermione and Alice.

**It kept wandering up to the dormitory where his new broomstick was lying under his bed, or straying off to the Quidditch pitch where he'd be learning to play that night. **

The quidditch players in the room were doing the same.

**He bolted his dinner that evening without noticing what he was eating, and then rushed upstairs with Ron and Neville to unwrap the Nimbus Two Thousand at last.**

**"Wow," Ron sighed, as the broomstick rolled onto Harry's bed.**

**Even Harry, who knew nothing about the different brooms, thought it looked wonderful.**

**Sleek and shiny, with a mahogany handle, it had a long tail of neat, straight twigs and Nimbus Two Thousand written in gold near the top.**

This time, _EVERY_ quidditch player was lost in their own world, imagining this magnificent broom. Regulus and Lucius were barely able to keep from drooling, prongs and padfoot were drooling.

**As seven o'clock drew nearer, Harry left the castle and set off in the dusk toward the Quidditch pitch. He'd never been inside the stadium before. **

**Hundreds of seats were raised in stands around the field so that the spectators were high enough to see what was going on. **

**At either end of the field were three golden poles with hoops on the end. They reminded Harry of the little plastic sticks Muggle children blew bubbles through, except that they were fifty feet high.**

**Too eager to fly again to wait for Wood, Harry mounted his broomstick and kicked off from the ground. What a feeling - he swooped in and out of the goal posts and then sped up and down the field. The Nimbus Two Thousand turned wherever he wanted at his lightest touch.**

"Wow" prongs said softly, his friends and competitors murmured an agreement, still lost in their own little worlds.

"You are a natural, Harry," Lily sighed.

**"Hey, Potter, come down!'**

**Oliver Wood had arrived. He was carrying a large wooden crate under his arm. Harry landed next to him.**

**"Very nice," said Wood, his eyes glinting. "I see what McGonagall meant... you really are a natural. I'm just going to teach you the rules this evening, then you'll be joining team practice three times a week."**

"Three," Fred said.

"Times," George continued.

"A week," Harry picked up.

"How we miss thee," they sighed in unison.

Everyone who knew of Oliver Wood's… dedication – to the sport laughed.

**He opened the crate. Inside were four different-sized balls.**

**"Right," said Wood. "Now, Quidditch is easy enough to understand, even if it's not too easy to play. There are seven players on each side. Three of them are called Chasers."**

"Angelina Johnson, Alicia Spinnet and Katie Bell,"

"Or, as the rest of the school calls them, the Red Vixens."

**"Three Chasers," Harry repeated, as Wood took out a bright red ball about the size of a soccer ball.**

**"This ball's called the Quaffle," said Wood. "The Chasers throw the Quaffle to each other and try and get it through one of the hoops to score a goal. Ten points every time the Quaffle goes through one of the hoops. Follow me?"**

**"The Chasers throw the Quaffle and put it through the hoops to score," Harry recited. "So - that's sort of like basketball on broomsticks with six hoops, isn't it?"**

"It is a little, isn't it," Lily said thoughtfully. "Muggle sport," she added, noticing most people's confusion.

**"What's basketball?" said Wood curiously. "Never mind," said Harry quickly.**

**"Now, there's another player on each side who's called the Keeper - I'm Keeper for Gryffindor. I have to fly around our hoops and stop the other team from scoring."**

**"Three Chasers, one Keeper," said Harry, who was determined to remember it all. "And they play with the Quaffle. Okay, got that. So what are they for?" He pointed at the three balls left inside the box.**

**"I'll show you now," said Wood. "Take this."**

**He handed Harry a small club, a bit like a short baseball bat.**

**"I'm going to show you what the Bludgers do," Wood said. "These two are the Bludgers."**

**He showed Harry two identical balls, jet black and slightly smaller than the red Quaffle. Harry noticed that they seemed to be straining to escape the straps holding them inside the box.**

**"Stand back," Wood warned Harry. He bent down and freed one of the Bludgers.**

"HE DID NOT JUST DO THAT!" Lily screamed.

"Nothing happened, mum," Harry said gently, clutching his ears like moony and Remus from the volume of her voice.

Lily sent her son a glare but her there was a softened look in her eyes from Harry calling her mum, and she was concerned about hurting Harry's hearing.

**At once, the black ball rose high in the air and then pelted straight at Harry's face.**

"Again, What!"

**Harry swung at it with the bat to stop it from breaking his nose, and sent it zigzagging away into the air - it zoomed around their heads and then shot at Wood, who dived on top of it and managed to pin it to the ground.**

"Not bad, you'd make a decent beater," Sirius said, slightly surprised.

**"See?" Wood panted, forcing the struggling Bludger back into the crate and strapping it down safely. "The Bludgers rocket around, trying to knock players off their brooms. That's why you have two Beaters on each team - the Weasley twins are ours -**

The twins stood up and bowed before being pulled back into their seats.

**it's their job to protect their side from the Bludgers and try and knock them toward the other team. So - think you've got all that?"**

**"Three Chasers try and score with the Quaffle; the Keeper guards the goal posts; the Beaters keep the Bludgers away from their team," Harry reeled off.**

**"Very good," said Wood.**

**"Er - have the Bludgers ever killed anyone?" Harry asked, hoping he sounded offhand.**

**"Never at Hogwarts. We've had a couple of broken jaws but nothing worse than that. **

**Now, the last member of the team is the Seeker. That's you.**

Harry smiled, stood up and bowed like the twins, albeit more gracefully, but was also pulled back into his seat by Hermione as his friends and both sets of marauders clapped.

**And you don't have to worry about the Quaffle or the Bludgers-"**

**"- unless they crack my head open."**

**"Don't worry, the Weasleys are more than a match for the Bludgers - I mean, they're like a pair of human Bludgers themselves."**

The twins bowed again, this time from their seats but got pushed onto the floor by Tonks and Charlie.

**Wood reached into the crate and took out the fourth and last ball. Compared with the Quaffle and the Bludgers, it was tiny, about the size of a large walnut. It was bright gold and had little fluttering silver wings.**

**"This," said Wood, "is the Golden Snitch, and it's the most important ball of the lot. It's very hard to catch because it's so fast and difficult to see. **

**It's the Seeker's job to catch it. You've got to weave in and out of the Chasers, Beaters, Bludgers, and Quaffle to get it before the other team's Seeker, because whichever Seeker catches the Snitch wins his team an extra hundred and fifty points, so they nearly always win. **

"Not always," Harry said, remembering the World Cup.

**That's why Seekers get fouled so much. A game of Quidditch only ends when the Snitch is caught, so it can go on for ages - I think the record is three months, they had to keep bringing on substitutes so the players could get some sleep. "Well, that's it - any questions?"**

**Harry shook his head. He understood what he had to do all right, it was doing it that was going to be the problem.**

Ron, Neville, Tonks, the twins and Hermione snorted.

"You're the best player Hogwarts has seen in over a century," Neville said.

"Hey!" cried James, prongs and padfoot.

"Sorry, but it's true," Sirius and Remus said together, smirking as everyone laughed at the three's disappointed pout.

**"We won't practice with the Snitch yet," said Wood, carefully shutting it back inside the crate, "it's too dark, we might lose it. Let's try you out with a few of these."**

**He pulled a bag of ordinary golf balls out of his pocket and a few minutes later, he and Harry were up in the air, Wood throwing the golf balls as hard as he could in every direction for Harry to catch.**

**Harry didn't miss a single one,**

"Oh wow! You are good," Charlie said, "I missed four the last time I did that."

**and Wood was delighted. After half an hour, night had really fallen and they couldn't carry on.**

**"That Quidditch cup'll have our name on it this year," said Wood happily as they trudged back up to the castle. "I wouldn't be surprised if you turn out better than Charlie Weasley, and he could have played for England if he hadn't gone off chasing dragons."**

"Crazy," James and Prongs said, yelping as their wife or girlfriend slapped them

"It's his choice," they said together.

**Perhaps it was because he was now so busy, what with Quidditch practice three evenings a week on top of all his homework, but Harry could hardly believe it when he realized that he'd already been at Hogwarts two months. **

**The castle felt more like home than Privet Drive ever had. **

"I understand, Harry," Padfoot and Sirius said, smiling sympathetically.

**His lessons, too, were becoming more and more interesting now that they had mastered the basics.**

Ron snorted "only you, Hermione and Greengrass had _'mastered'_ anything."

**On Halloween morning they woke to the delicious smell of baking pumpkin wafting through the corridors. **

**Harry, however, wasn't in the mood to celebrate despite Ron's efforts, Halloween held a certain significance to him which meant he'd rather be doing his homework in his dorm or the library than celebrating, he'd even prefer detention with Snape. Ron didn't get the hint though. **

Ron blushed and looked ashamed as everyone stared at him.

"Oh wow," the twins, Bill, Charlie and Tonks said.

"You'd prefer detention with his greasiness?" Tonks asked, amazed.

Harry nodded yes, as everyone laughed except Severus and Snape who glared at her, making her flinch as she wasn't used to him glaring in stereo.

**Professor Flitwick announced in Charms that he thought they were ready to start making objects fly, something they had all been dying to try since they'd seen him make Neville's toad zoom around the classroom. **

**Professor Flitwick put the class into pairs to practice. Harry's partner was Seamus Finnigan (which was a relief, because Neville had been trying to catch his eye).**

"Sorry Neville," Harry apologized.

Frank and Alice were glaring at Harry.

"It's ok, at the time I was about as dangerous as Seamus," Neville said.

**Ron, however, was to be working with Hermione Granger. It was hard to tell whether Ron or Hermione was angrier about this.**

"Me!" they said together and glared at the other as their friends laughed.

**She hadn't spoken to Ron since the day Harry's broomstick had arrived.**

**Harry however had run into her the previous morning while trying to limp to the Hospital Wing.**

"What happened?" Lily asked worriedly.

**Hermione had found him leaning against a pillar and had marched past intent on ignoring him but had looked back for some reason and faltered at the way Harry's face was twisted in pain.**

"I couldn't just leave you," Hermione said in a small voice.

**Her bossy attitude had collapsed as she asked what was wrong, genuine concern flooding her beautiful brown eyes. Harry told her he'd been climbing a tree by the lake and fell, he'd actually been exploring in his dog form and a 200 pound suit of armour tripped over and fell on him as he and it walked around the same corner, and he hadn't been able to move until recently, about ten minutes ago really, Hermione was an early riser.**

Lily and James were quiet but clearly concerned by what they were hearing.

**Hermione had then helped Harry reach the Hospital wing, where the matron, Madame Pomfrey, hadn't been happy at how badly Harry had injured himself.**

Everyone who'd been in the Hospital wing grinned sheepishly.

**Madame Pomfrey had thanked Hermione and told her to head off to Breakfast, and the told Harry to remove his shirt. Harry missed Hermione looking back from the door and her eyes going wide as his shirt came off.**

Everyone looked at Hermione.

"I was surprised by the number of bruises, and confused by the way those same bruises were discoloured in lines and at odd angles," Hermione explained, going red.

"And maybe hoping to catch a glimpse of your crush with his shirt off," Ginny teased.

Everyone laughed as Hermione went Weasley red and threw a cushion at Ginny.

**She then disappeared out the door.**

**Madame Pomfrey had initially started on the bruising but had gasped loudly as they faded, making Harry lie back as she performed several tests, her face becoming steadily paler as a quill jotted down the results on two pieces of parchment.**

**When the quill stopped, Madame Pomfrey hurried over to a cabinet containing a large number of glass bottles with different coloured liquids, or powders in a few cases, she came back with three red potions two green and one blue.**

**Madame Pomfrey explained that two of the red potions were general healing potions and the third was for scarring, the two greens were nutritional potions to help compensate for the starvation and the last was an optical correction potion, his poor eyesight was more due to repeated blunt force trauma than genetics.**

"I'll kill them," Sirius snarled, gripping the arms of his chair tightly.

Remus was pacing the room, his gold eyes scanning the room for any sign of the ones that hurt his cub.

James was shaking hard and Lily was trying to calm him.

Everyone else was growling or muttering curses under their breaths except Evans who was discussing the details of a pre-emptive strike with her set of marauders and Hermione who was hugging Harry tightly and muttering angrily about what she was going to do to Dudley in revenge for this.

It was several minutes before everyone was ready to continue.

**He'd been forced to stay the whole morning and half the afternoon after taking the potions. The red and green potions were bitter to varying degrees but the blue potion was sweet, but had left him to endure an uncomfortable burning sensation in and behind his eyes but when he opened them after it faded he could see perfectly.**

"So that's why you only wore your glasses during the Hufflepuff match in third year," Fred said, realising that was the only time he's seen Harry wear glasses after that day.

**Madame Pomfrey had then given him a quick check up before letting him return to class, the eye treatment having taken longer to work than the rest combined **_**and**_** adding her usual recovery period.**

"**Although why you **_**didn't**_** come to see me immediately after you came here is beyond me," the matron ranted as Harry put his robe back on.**

"**My first acceptance letter was addressed to the cupboard that was my room for ten years, I thought the school knew but didn't care," Harry said quietly, more to himself than the matron, and didn't notice her pale significantly and sit down on the next bed as he left.**

"That was one of the worst days in my career," Minerva stated, remembering the aftermath of that small revelation which had set in motion events that would get him out of that house for good two years later.

**Hermione had met him outside the hall at dinner and quietly asked how he was, and why he wasn't wearing his glasses. After explaining about the potions and waiting for his eyes to heal, they'd entered the hall for dinner, enjoying a more civil relationship than they had a few hours previously.**

**Although Ron didn't notice anything and both Harry and Neville had to work hard to keep him from doing something stupid or unforgivable.**

Every one of Ron's friends and brothers shook their heads as the boy in question went red in embarrassment.

**"Now, don't forget that nice wrist movement we've been practicing!" squeaked Professor Flitwick, perched on top of his pile of books as usual. "Swish and flick, remember, swish and flick. And saying the magic words properly is very important, too - never forget Wizard Baruffio, who said 's' instead of 'f' and found himself on the floor with a buffalo on his chest."**

"Doesn't work," the twins said as James and Prongs flinched.

"It does, but be glad you couldn't do it," they said.

**It was very difficult for most. Harry and Seamus swished and flicked, but the feathers they were supposed to be sending skyward just lay on the desktop. **

**Seamus got so impatient that he prodded his with his wand and set fire to it – the flash made Harry fall out of his chair, singing his hair in the process, when he got back up he had to put it out with his hat.**

Sirius burst out laughing.

"You did find a use for that hat," he laughed, remembering Harry's comment from earlier.

**After Seamus got a new feather, Harry tried again and this time managed to get his feather two feet off the desk but no higher.**

Evans and Lily smiled at Harry as he was congratulated by nearly everyone else.

**Ron, at the next table, wasn't having much more luck than Seamus.**

**"Wingardium Leviosa!" he shouted, waving his long arms like a windmill before flicking his wand at his feather violently.**

Ginny muttered, "Idiot".

"I don't think that's how it's done Ron," Evans said.

**"You're saying it wrong," Harry heard Hermione snap. "It's Wing-gar-dium Levi-o-sa, make the 'gar' nice and long."**

**"You do it, then, if you're so clever," Ron snarled.**

Fred and George and both sets of marauders groaned.

"Never challenge a know-it-all to prove they can do something," Padfoot told him, face palming.

"And you should have been nicer to her," Arthur scolded lightly.

**Hermione rolled up the sleeves of her robe, flicked her wand, and said, "Wingardium Leviosa!"**

**Her feather rose off the desk and hovered about four feet above their heads.**

**"Oh, well done!" cried Professor Flitwick, clapping. "Everyone see here, Miss Granger's done it! And Mr Potter too! Well done both of you, Ten points each to Gryffindor."**

**Harry looked up to see Hermione had indeed done it, and was holding her feather two feet higher than he was holding his.**

**Ron was in a very bad mood by the end of the class. "It's no wonder no one can stand her," he said to Harry and Neville as they pushed their way into the crowded corridor, "she's a nightmare, honestly."**

"RON!" Ginny yelled, horrified at her brother's behaviour.

"HOW COULD YOU BE SO RUDE!?" Molly shrieked, "WE DID NOT RAISE YOU TO ACT LIKE THIS YOUNG MAN!"

Harry and Neville would have said something but were clutching their heads because of the volume of 'The Living Howler's' voice.

**Someone knocked into Harry as they hurried past him. It was Hermione. Harry caught a glimpse of her face - and was startled to see that she was in tears.**

"How could you?" Lavender asked tearfully, she and Parvati had seen what had happened from a short distance away and had followed Hermione and tried to comfort her, but had missed Harry giving Ron what he deserved.

"I was a jerk, I was embarrassed, I couldn't handle it so I lashed out," Ron explained, his tone making it clear he wasn't trying to make an excuse.

**"I think she heard you." Neville said but Harry didn't hear him.**

**Harry was thinking about how that was him, not so long ago, being called names and chased away, forced to hide outside of classes.**

**How had it come to this? **

**He was looking the other way as his friend picked on a classmate, how could he ignore it? Why hadn't he tried harder to stop it?**

**His heart suddenly dropped to somewhere in his navel. He was no better than Dudley.**

There were a number of loud protests at this but Harry heard none of it, having been slapped hard in the face by Hermione.

"You are _NOTHING_ like that ape!" Hermione shouted, "Nothing!"

"It felt like it at the time," Harry mumbled ashamedly.

**His mind barely registered the golden brown haired girl from the sorting, Lavender Brown, and her friend Parvati Patil running after her.**

**"So?" said Ron, but he looked a bit uncomfortable. "She must've noticed she's got no friends."**

"RON!" Molly screamed.

"We WILL be talking about this, young man," Arthur said sternly, turning to glare at his son but stopped when he saw him.

Ron was curled up and whimpering as he held his right cheek.

**Harry suddenly felt a cold feeling spread from where his heart seemed to be but this suddenly turned into an intense burning that spread throughout his body.**

**Harry spun around and swung hard at Ron.**

**Crack!**

**His left fist connected with Ron's right cheek, sending the red head flying five feet back before hitting the ground.**

The twins and most of the other future teens winced in sympathy, Harry may have been a scrawny midget but he hit hard.

"**She was trying to help you," Harry said softly, his voice shaking with anger, but everyone in the courtyard still heard him. "She was trying to make friends. And you insulted her, called her names, and now you've made her cry for no fault of her own."**

"**You're no better than my cousin." The parts of Ron's face that weren't red, black or blue suddenly went green as his eyes widened in realisation.**

**Harry turned and ran down the corridor he'd seen Hermione run into, hoping to spot her but there was no sign of a single lock of bushy brown hair, he spent the next ten minutes before his next class looking for any sign of her but found nothing.**

Hermione kissed Harry's cheek, "Thank you."

**Harry entered Transfiguration that afternoon in a very bad mood, sitting down next to Neville who surprisingly didn't flinch away. As Harry watched the door for Hermione, Neville told Harry that Ron would be in the Hospital wing until dinner and that Madame Pomfrey had refused to heal the bruising after learning what he'd done to deserve being hit.**

"Ouch" Fred said quietly, remembering what Ron's face had been like for the next week.

**Hermione didn't turn up for Transfiguration and wasn't seen all afternoon.**

Molly shot another ugly look at her cowering son.

**On their way down to the Great Hall for the Halloween feast, Harry, Neville and Ron (who'd been discharged from Madame Pomfrey's care) overheard Parvati Patil telling Lavender Brown that Hermione was crying in the girls' bathroom and wanted to be left alone. **

**Ron looked still more awkward at this, more so when Harry and Neville glared at him, but a moment later they had entered the Great Hall, where the Halloween decorations put Hermione out of Ron and Neville's minds.**

**A thousand live bats fluttered from the walls and ceiling while a thousand more swooped over the tables in low black clouds, making the candles in the pumpkins stutter. The feast appeared suddenly on the golden plates, as it had at the start-of-term banquet.**

**Harry didn't feel like celebrating so told Neville he was going to look for Hermione. Neville nodded, before going to sit by Ron who was already tucking into the food.**

Several people shook their heads at this but said nothing.

**After checking the girls toilet on the ground floor, he hurried up the marble staircase to the first floor, he checked the girls toilet near the stairs without luck and started across the floor toward the other.**

**Halfway there, he realised that his dog form had superior hearing which would help him find Hermione if she was still crying, heaven help Ron if she was though.**

Ron winced again as this was read out, Harry had left him hanging upside down in the common room all of the following day, the fall when he'd been released may have been short but it was onto bare flagstones in front of the fire.

**It was less than a dozen steps from where he'd changed that he heard sniffling and faint sobs.**

**He stopped, a terrible feeling in his chest, as though someone had put his heart in a vice, before bolting towards the source of the sounds as fast as his furry paws could carry him.**

**For several minutes the only sound heard was the pattering of dog's paws and claws on the floor as a small rough collie hurried across the first floor.**

**The dog skidded to a stop just inside the bathroom, padding slowly inside as a girl cried in one of the stalls. He spotted Hermione's shoes on the floor of the far stall.**

**Harry padded over to the far stall and lay down in front of the door, just close enough that his snout would be visible but not so close he'd be accused of peeping. **

Marlene, Evans and Alice glared at padfoot for some reason while Lily was glaring at Sirius.

**He let a sad whimper as Hermione continued crying, earning a gasp and a sudden movement from the stall.**

**Harry backed up quickly as Hermione opened the door, her tears forgotten for a moment when she saw the unfamiliar dog.**

"**Hello," Hermione said, wiping away a few of her remaining tears, "Who's your master?" she asked as Harry padded slowly forward. "Did you come looking for me?" she wondered aloud as she stroked the dog's silky fur.**

"Your fur is so soft," Hermione complimented, looking at Harry. "If I hadn't always known it was that soft I'd think you spent more time washing your hair than Lavender," she added teasingly, making everyone laugh and Harry mock-glare at her as Lavender ran her hands through her golden curls.

**Harry gave a bark but then stiffened as her fingers brushed a certain spot behind his left ear, he tried to get away but could only melt into her hands as she started scratching his ears in just the right spot.**

"Dog's foil," Sirius and padfoot grumbled, remembering how many times he'd been putty in one of the girls' hands when they scratched his ears when he transformed.

**Harry just lay there for a few moments, half inside the stall as Hermione ran her hands through the fur on his head and neck and scratched his ears, not noticing the frown forming.**

"Busted," Ginny sang again.

**She stopped scratching his ears and held his head up and looked into his eyes,**

"I've never seen a dog with green eyes," Hermione said.

**Before tracing something on his forehead that suddenly frightened him, a tiny lightning bolt.**

"You still have the scar when you transform," padfoot laughed.

Harry huffed and sent a stinging hex at the canine animagus, one reason he'd liked transforming was that he'd thought the scar was covered.

"**Harry?" Hermione asked in surprise, her red eyes wide in surprise.**

**Harry blinked in surprise, but sat up straight and transformed, standing straight as he finished, Hermione stood up too but could only stare and stutter. "Harry? B-b-but… how… w-what?" **

"**I can turn into a dog, I haven't found the exact magic but I don't think it's unique," Harry said to her. "McGonagall smelled of catnip on Monday."**

Both McGonagall's went scarlet as the room roared with laughter, both sets of marauders were on the floor as well as the twins, Tonks, even Lily and Evans were struggling to stay in their seats.

Evans continued when everyone calmed down ten minutes later.

"_**Professor**_** McGonagall can change too?" Hermione asked, her near insatiable thirst for knowledge making another appearance, interfering with her desire to reprimand her classmate.**

"**I think so, regardless, I came to find you," Harry continued, looking her straight in the eyes.**

"**Why?" Hermione asked disbelievingly, "You could be at the Feast."**

Several people sucked in a deep breath as Hermione went red and ducked her head, Dan, Emma and Violet looked confused by the reactions.

"**Why should I?" Harry asked, more aggressively than he meant to. "Why should I join the idiots and bigots that celebrate the night two innocent young people were murdered? Why should I celebrate the anniversary of the day I was torn from the only people who loved me? Why should I celebrate the night I was condemned to ten years of slavery, imprisonment, torture and starvation?"**

Snape, Minerva and Remus ducked their heads in shame, that was exactly what the Halloween feast celebrated now.

**The aggression faded from his voice as he spoke, tears spilled down his cheeks as sobs came freely.**

"**Why should I? What do I have to celebrate?"**

**Hermione looked helpless, "I'm sorry… I didn't know," she apologised, horrified by what she'd just heard.**

"**No one cares, they just see a dead dark wizard and the child they claim did it, they choose not to see the family that was destroyed, the young couple murdered mere minutes before, or the fact their **_**saviour**_** must now grow up alone, that they'll never know what their parents looked like or even their names."**

The older Weasley children, Tonks and Lavender shifted in their seats, refusing to look Harry or his family in the eye. They had all done that.

**Harry looked up at Hermione's horrified gasp. "I didn't even know my parents' names until I met Hagrid and I still don't know what they look like," he admitted sadly, wiping his tears on the sleeve of his robe as Hermione dried her own on a piece of tissue.**

"**I came to see you, I wanted to apologise," Harry said, shifting on his feet uncomfortably. "I should have stepped in earlier, stopped Ron from insulting you."**

"**It's ok," Hermione said. Harry shook his head.**

"**No, it's not. I know what it's like to be singled out for being different; heck my own cousin was my main tormentor. Instead I sat back and let it happen, I let Ron drive you here when I should have defended you. I nearly became one of the bullies I hate." Harry's voice was thick with shame and self-loathing by this point, he didn't notice how Hermione was watching him in surprise and interest, almost as if no one who'd ever bullied her had apologised before and meant it.**

"They hadn't" Hermione confirmed.

"**It's ok Harry, you never said anything to me, if anything I should be thanking you for being as diplomatic as you have," Hermione told him.**

"**But I still did nothing to stop Ron," Harry continued.**

"**And he should have known better, he should know his behaviour is unacceptable, you shouldn't have to apologise for him because he shouldn't act like that anyway," Hermione insisted.**

Several people shot Ron a look as he nodded glumly and mumbled that he should have known better.

"**I'm sorry," Harry repeated.**

"**Harry" Hermione said sharply. Harry looked up to see her with her hands on her hips, her head tilted to her right, her hair over her right shoulder but not her left and a look on her face that said 'apologise again and I'll hex you'.**

James, Sirius and Remus looked at Lily before looking away and whistling when Lily glared at them, while Marlene and Alice grinned madly at Evans as she glared at prongs, padfoot and moony while holding her wand to keep them from commenting.

"**Friends?" Harry asked.**

"**Friends," Hermione confirmed, giving him a small smile.**

**Harry smiled a little before gesturing to the door, "We should head back, before someone starts looking for us."**

**Hermione nodded, wiped her eyes one last time and followed him out of the stall, the door banging shut behind her.**

**They'd gone less than ten paces when Hermione stopped, her nose wrinkled. "Can you smell something?"**

**Harry sniffed and a foul stench reached his nostrils, a mixture of old socks and the kind of public toilet no one seems to clean.**

**And then they heard it - a low grunting, and the shuffling footfalls of gigantic feet. Something huge was moving toward them. **

**They looked to the door and started to step back, Harry put his hand on Hermione's hip and pulled her behind him, they stopped when Hermione bumped into the wooden frame of the stall, but they didn't notice. Both their eyes were transfixed on what had come through the entrance and Hermione was on the verge of hyperventilating.**

"Get out of there," Lily whispered, pale as the Grey Lady.

"It's between them and the door," Lucius murmured, horrified. Everyone heard him.

**It was a horrible sight. Twelve feet tall, its skin was a dull, granite gray, its great lumpy body like a boulder with its small bald head perched on top like a coconut. It had short legs thick as tree trunks with flat, horny feet. The smell coming from it was incredible. It was holding a huge wooden club, which dragged along the floor because its arms were so long.**

"Why does that… _thing_ need a weapon?" Lily and Emma cried hysterically.

**The troll waggled its ears and looked around the room twice before its beady little eyes found the two children.**

Both Emma and Lily wanted to hold their children but held back as Hermione was now holding very tightly to Harry and had buried her face in his neck, Harry was hugging her and whispering words of comfort into her ear as he rubbed gentle circles on her back.

Evans gave the book to moony as she couldn't continue reading and curled up next to prongs who hugged her and tried to comfort her.

**The troll stared at two children for over a minute and the children stared back, until Hermione let out a high, petrified scream.**

Hermione visibly flinched at the word petrified; Harry hugged her closer and kissed her hair before whispering to her again.

**The troll stepped back and roared, clutching its over-sized ears. Harry turned halfway around, clamping his left hand over Hermione's mouth, his right across the back of her shoulders and holding the back of her robe over her right shoulder.**

**The troll stopped its roar after Harry silenced Hermione, but it shouted again and swung at the pair with its club.**

Evans, Lily and Emma squeaked fearfully through their boyfriend's/husband's arms.

**Harry dropped his hand from Hermione's mouth and grasped the front of her shirt, yanking hard to pull her down and forward. The club missed their heads by a foot.**

**CRASH!**

**The club struck and rebounded off the wall opposite the stalls as Harry and Hermione hit the floor, Hermione falling two feet further forward than Harry. Harry looked up to find the rebound had knocked the troll off balance.**

**Harry noticed that the troll was standing with its legs wide, and he could clearly see the door between then.**

**He quickly went behind Hermione, who was on her elbows and knees now, put her hands on her bum and pushed her as hard as he could between the troll's legs toward the door.**

Padfoot sniggered but feel silent as Marlene put her wand under his chin.

**Hermione meeped as she felt Harry's hands on her bum,**

The twins, Sirius and padfoot sniggered but yelped as they were hit by stinging hexes.

**but was sliding through the gap between the troll's legs and nearly to the door before she could think any further.**

"I think you put magic into that push," Hermione said quietly.

"Accidental magic?" Harry asked her.

Hermione nodded, making Lily and James add another item to their 'To investigate' list.

Moony continued as Hermione settled back into Harry's arms.

**Harry got to his feet just as Hermione looked back to him, "RUN!" Harry shouted, dodging to his left as the troll swung the club vertically at the spot he had been lying on.**

**SMASH!**

**Harry's back hit the side of the stalls as he stumbled from the impact, but ducked to the side of the troll as it raised its club again and bolted for the door, spotting Hermione scrambling to her feet and running out the door as fast as she could.**

**Harry was hallway to the door when the troll swung its club again.**

**SMASH!**

**The club went through the wooden walls and frames of the stall before swinging clear and striking Harry.**

"No!" Lily and Evans cried, their voices muffled by James and prongs' embrace.

**Thud!**

**Harry felt a brief weightlessness mixed in which the pain in his right side just above his hip, before he twisted in mid-air and his back collided with the wooden door, rebounding of the surface and landing about twelve feet away from the door and into the corridor.**

Evans and Lily squeaked again, as did Hermione. James and prongs were both showing cracks in the masks they'd been wearing since the troll arrived.

**Harry groaned loudly as he forced himself up onto his elbows, despite the pain shooting down his right side and his back. He barely recognised that Hermione had come back and was kneeling beside him as he was watching the troll duck its head under the door frame and start to come through.**

**He fumbled for his wand, and drew it out just as the troll straightened up and raised its club to strike again. He barely heard Hermione scream as he aimed at the trolls club.**

"_**Expelliarmus!"**_

"What?"

"Expelliarmus? What'll that do?"

"Let me read and you'll find out," Moony replied.

**A bolt of scarlet light flew from the tip of Harry's wand and went straight towards the trolls club, which had been raised high above its head.**

**The club flew from the trolls grasp as the scarlet bolt hit it, sending it straight into the air where it struck the ceiling, overturned and came down on its owners head.**

"Oh wow," the twins said.

"You disarmed a troll and knocked it out with its own weapon?" Charlus asked, incredulously.

**The troll swayed dangerously before falling backwards onto its butt, it held itself upright with its arms for a moment, staring down the corridor cross eyed before its beady eyes rolled into its head and it fell backwards with a thud that shook the floor, walls and ceiling.**

"He really did knock it out," William Longbottom said quietly.

**Harry barely had time to realise that a group of four teachers had arrived and had stopped next to Hermione when the pain from his injuries came back in full force and he blacked out.**

"Were you alright?" an ashen faced Molly asked.

"I'm still here," Harry pointed out, annoyed.

Molly went a little pink.

**Sometime later, Harry found himself in a strange room. It was unlike any room he'd ever seen, the ceiling was painted white, the walls red with gold trimming and there was a black door.**

Nearly everyone was confused, except James, Lily, Sirius and Remus, who were staring at Harry wide eyed, Lily and James were crying silently.

**Harry looked at the ceiling to see constellations projected onto it by a softly glowing crystal on a nearby chest of drawers. There was a wall of wooden bars in front of him, just taller than he was. He stared around the room in fascination until a noise beyond the door, an indistinct voice, a panicked voice. A man's voice.**

The confusion of most people deepened, except for Hermione who was now crying into Harry's neck.

**There was a series of thumping sounds that got louder, the door was then wrenched open, and a woman stepped through.**

**She was a very pretty woman. She had dark red hair and her eyes —her eyes are just like mine, Harry thought as she walked quickly to a sideboard.**

"Oh God," Emma gasped, looking at Lily in horror.

Several of the adults had also made the connection and were staring at Harry horrified.

**The woman picked up a small stuffed animal, a white stag, and stepped quickly over to Harry as a series of loud bangs and shouts began downstairs.**

"**Harry, mummy is going to have to take you from here, daddy won't be coming with us," the woman said, her voice was soft and melodious even as her voice shook in fear. She picked Harry up and held him close before holding the small stag in her hand and saying something in a strange language.**

**Nothing happened.**

**Her eyes widened in horror, she looked at the stag and repeated the strange words again and again but the stag remained inanimate.**

"**Oh no," she whispered fearfully, suddenly she turned to the door. Downstairs was silent.**

"**James," she whispered, tears streaming down her cheeks as slow, purposeful steps echoed through the silent house.**

**The woman placed Harry back into the cot, putting the small stag next to him; she kissed the top of his head before kneeling in front of the cot, her eyes level with Harry's.**

**"Harry, we love you so much. Harry, Mummy loves you. Daddy loves you. Harry, be safe, be strong. Sirius will keep you safe." She whispered tears still streaming down her beautiful face.**

There wasn't a dry eye in the room now, even Moody was crying now. No-one should have to remember something like this.

**She stood up slightly and draped her body over the cot and Harry as there was a bright flash and loud bang from the doorway. She stood up and turned to face the intruder.**

**A tall figure swept into the room over the splintered remains of the door, they wore a long black robe with a black hood that left the face hidden in such complete darkness it was like staring into the eternal abyss. A single ghostly white hand rose, a foot long pale rod with a carved hilt held in its grasp.**

**"Stand aside, you silly girl… stand aside, now…" a cold hard voice demanded**

**"Not Harry, please no, take me, kill me instead —"the woman begged, steadfastly remaining between the figure and Harry**

**"Stand aside — stand aside, girl —" the figure demanded again**

**"Not Harry! Not Harry! Please — I'll do anything —"**

"**I said – Stand Aside!"**

**"Not Harry! Please… have mercy… HAVE MERCY!"**

"**Enough of this…" the voice commanded, his next words were drowned out by the woman's scream as a jet of sickly green light claimed her.**

Lily sobbed audibly as her last moments were read out.

Moony was having trouble continuing.

**Harry watched the woman fall in front of him, a terrible feeling rose in his chest as he looked into her unseeing eyes. Tears fell from his own eyes as he stared down at the fallen woman, barely hearing that the intruder was speaking.**

**He looked up to find the figure standing over the woman, holding the pale rod so its tip was level with his eyes.**

**The figure spoke again, which again Harry didn't hear distinctly, then the tip before him glowed that same sickly green before his vision was blinded by that same sickly glow, and then there was darkness.**

**Harry opened his eyes to find himself surrounded by soft white cloth, closed around his snout and restricting his paws movement.**

'**Wait a moment,' Harry thought, 'White cloth? Snout? Paws? Fur? Tail? I'm in a blanket cover or pillowcase as a dog.'**

**Before Harry could get any further in that train of thought, a pair of small, slender hands wrapped around his middle and pulled.**

**Harry let out a yelp and tried to scramble away but the pillowcase restricted his paws movement and made his paws slip on the surface beneath it.**

**The hands pulled him back, lifted him up and then deposited him on a soft, cloth covered surface before pulling off the pillowcase.**

**Harry shook his head and blinked as the pillowcase cleared his head to find Hermione, Madame Pomfrey and Professor McGonagall staring at him, one in concern the other two in disbelief.**

"Well of course I couldn't believe it," Minerva snapped suddenly. "You seem to disappear from the Hospital Wing after being hit by a troll, only to be found hiding under the bed in an animagus form. It's unheard of for someone to be capable of the transformation in first year."

"**Harry?" Hermione asked, looking at him uncertainly. Harry stepped back from them a little before sitting up straight and changing back, provoking shocked gasps from both staff members.**

"**Hey, Hermione," Harry said, sniffing and trying to wipe away his tears on the sleeve of the pyjamas he was wearing, "are you alright?"**

"**I'm fine, Harry, are **_**you**_** alright?" Hermione replied.**

**Harry opened his mouth but stopped, he wanted to say yes, to lie through the tears but looking into her eyes, he found he couldn't, not about this.**

Hermione gave him a sad smile which he returned; their parents added another note to their list.

"**No, I'm not…" Harry said, his voice shaking, "I saw… I saw **_**that night**_**. I saw mum, she tried to take me away, to escape but the spell on the object she tried to use failed… or was sabotaged… I don't know…" Harry said quickly, his tears streaming down his face in small rivers, lowering his head into his hands and crying openly. He stiffened slightly but otherwise showed no sign of noticing as Hermione pulled him into a hug, he also didn't notice Madame Pomfrey's or Professor McGonagall's tears or horrified expressions.**

"**She begged him… she begged him to kill her, to spare me…" Harry said after a few moments, his voice muffled by his hands. "He told her to step aside… again and again, but she refused… then… he killed her… a sickly green spell and she fell…" Harry felt Hermione's hug get tighter and a wet patch form where she laid her cheek on his shoulder.**

"**And then… and then he turned to me… he used that same spell… and that's all I remember." Harry finished, barely recognising Madame Pomfrey leaving and heading for a nearby cabinet.**

"**Oh Harry, I'm so sorry," Hermione said, her voice a little distorted by her own crying.**

"**You shouldn't have to remember that, Mr Potter," Professor McGonagall said, Harry knew she hadn't added **_**'no one should'.**_

Minerva huffed slightly in annoyance while James and prongs sniggered a little, was she so easy for Potter's to read.

**Madame Pomfrey returned with four potions and held out two each for both Harry and Hermione; "These are calming and dreamless sleep potions, I want you both to take both and return to bed," she said.**

**The two parted and took the small bottles; Harry drank his as Hermione returned to her bed. The last thing Harry saw before sleep claimed him was Hermione settling into bed but looking over to him one last time before her eyes began to close.**

**The next morning Madame Pomfrey kept both Harry and Hermione back for a quick check-up before releasing them. They talked a little about the previous night as they went down to breakfast, Hermione agreed to Harry's request to not talk about the nightmare, she also told Harry that she was in the Hospital Wing because she had refused to leave him after he'd passed out. **

**Harry noticed that she went a little pink at this but didn't say anything; he couldn't say that he wasn't a little happy she'd stayed, he found her presence a little comforting for some reason.**

The twins and padfoot sniggered as both Harry and Hermione went red.

**They met Ron and Neville in the great hall, were Ron apologised profusely for his behaviour and Neville apologised for not stopping Ron.**

**Harry knew Hermione didn't want to forgive Ron, he didn't either, but she accepted both apologies and to his credit Ron did try hard to make up for his actions.**

**But just because Hermione had forgiven him didn't mean Harry had.**

Ron flinched again as the reminder of Harry's punishment.

**After that moment, Harry Potter, Neville Longbottom, Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley became friends.**

"That's it," moony said marking the page.

"I think we should take a break," Arthur said, looking at Ron who admittedly looked like he felt terrible over his previous behaviour.

"An excellent idea, we'll break for lunch, shall we?" Dumbledore said, looking around.

Everyone broke into groups, the Weasleys headed for one of the rooms while Harry and his family went to a table away from the others.

Lily wrapped Harry into a hug and cried into his shoulder; Harry hugged her back gently and rubbed her back soothingly.

James, Sirius, Remus and Violet simply watched, not knowing what to say.

Harry smiled to his mother when she finally raised her head; she gave him another small hug and went to sit in a nearby chair, well James' lap really.

They began a small conversation about nothing important until the Weasleys returned; Ron looked pale but they looked fine other than that.

The groups went to the long table where lunch appeared for them to feast on, the conversation was light as they ate, what had just been read weighed heavily on nearly everyone's minds.

They returned to their seats once everyone, even Ron, Sirius, padfoot and Charlie, had finished.

"Who wants to read next?" Evans asked, holding up the book.

"I think Remus should read next," Harry said, grinning at his godwolf.

Remus shrugged and took the book from Evans, opening the book to the right page, he shot Harry an amused grin when he read the title of the chapter.

"Chapter Eleven, **Quidditch**" he read.


	13. Chapter 13-Quidditch

Quidditch

"**CHAPTER-ELEVEN, QUIDDITCH"** Remus read.

The Quidditch nuts all cheered.

"We're reading about Harry's first game!" Prongs shouted excitedly, Evans pulled him back down into his seat and tried to glare at him to be quiet but it was ruined by the excitement shining in her own eyes.

**As they entered November, the weather turned very cold. The mountains around the school became icy gray and the lake like chilled steel. Every morning the ground was covered in frost. Hagrid could be seen from the upstairs windows defrosting broomsticks on the Quidditch field, bundled up in a long moleskin overcoat, rabbit fur gloves, and enormous beaver skin boots.**

**The Quidditch season had begun.**

"The best season there is!" said James, to the agreement of Sirius, prongs, Frank, padfoot, Regulus and Lucius.

Nearly everyone else rolled their eyes or smiled. Lily, Alice and Narcissa smiled indulgently at their husband/boyfriends while Evans and Marlene sighed and rolled their eyes but snuggled up to their boyfriends anyway.

**On Saturday, Harry would be playing in his first match after weeks of training: Gryffindor versus Slytherin.**

"Alright! The best match of the season!" Sirius declared.

"Nine times out of ten the most dangerous, you mean," Harry corrected, his past experience flashing in his eyes for a moment.

"Exactly, which means it's the hardest fought game of the season," padfoot agreed.

"I'm starting to believe Sirius was mad _before_ prison," Harry whispered to Hermione who giggled and nodded.

**If Gryffindor won, they would move up into second place in the house championship.**

"You'd better win, Harry!"

"Shut up and you'll find out, won't you."

**Hardly anyone had seen Harry play because Wood had decided that, as their secret weapon, Harry should be kept, well, secret. But the news that he was playing Seeker had leaked out somehow,**

"Malfoy did see your broom," Marlene pointed out.

"And those two probably said something," Harry said pointing to the twins who grinned sheepishly.

**and Harry didn't know which was worse - people telling him he'd be brilliant or people telling him they'd be running around underneath him holding a mattress.**

"Don't worry, if what we've seen is an indicator, you'll be amazing and those mocking you will look like idiots," James said reassuringly.

"We could have used that mattress," Harry said quietly to Hermione and Neville, not listening to his father.

"Or a safety net," Lavender added quietly.

Unfortunately, Lily and James heard them.

**It was really lucky that Harry now had Hermione as a friend. He didn't know how he'd have gotten through all his homework without her, **

"Thank you," Hermione said sarcastically, twisting in Harry's arms so her back was to him.

"Hey," Harry said softly. "No one is as organised as you, besides I asked you to help me keep up and you said yes," he pointed out.

Hermione turned around and pouted at him, annoyed he had remembered.

**what with all the last-minute Quidditch practice Wood was making them do. She had also lent him Quidditch Through the Ages, which turned out to be a very interesting read.**

"Only book worth reading."

"Shut it, Prongs, Flying with the Cannons is worth it too."

"Says the only Cannons fan in the school"

"Hey!"

**Harry learned that there were seven hundred ways of committing a Quidditch foul and that all of them had happened during a World Cup match in 1473;**

"That would have been an amazing match to see." said Sirius, to general agreement.

"Professor, weren't you at that match?" Harry asked Dumbledore.

"Indeed I was," Dumbledore replied, "thanks to an accident in an experiment to modify a Time Turner."

"Can we see the memory in your Pensieve?" Harry asked, the rest of the quidditch fans, and even those who normally weren't, waited impatiently for an answer.

"I shall see what I can do," Dumbledore said.

**that Seekers were usually the smallest and fastest players, and that most serious Quidditch accidents seemed to happen to them;**

Lily and Evans paled, thinking about their son.

**that although people rarely died playing Quidditch, referees had been known to vanish and turn up months later in the Sahara Desert.**

**Hermione had become a bit more relaxed about breaking rules since Harry had saved her from the mountain troll, and she was much nicer for it. **

Hermione slapped Harry's arm, but he just smiled and kissed her on the cheek.

**Ron had become much nicer to her in turn, but that hadn't stopped both Fred and George and Percy giving him a lecture each, or Harry hexing him for putting Hermione and him in that position in the first place. Fred and George had taught him a charm that would leave someone hanging upside down from their ankles until it was released and a charm that kept blood flow normal, so he didn't pass out or have toes drop off from the blood rushing to his head.  
Percy didn't even notice Ron being hung up because he was so wrapped up in his rant.**

Everyone who was there sniggered.

**The day before Harry's first Quidditch match the four of them were out in the freezing courtyard during break, and she had conjured them up a bright blue fire that could be carried around in a jam jar.**

"That's impressive. That's third year work, and very difficult to get the hang of." said Frank.

**They were standing with their backs to it, getting warm, when Snape crossed the yard. Harry noticed at once that Snape was limping. Harry, Ron, Neville and Hermione moved closer together to block the fire from view; they were sure it wouldn't be allowed.**

"Actually, it is." said McGonagall, "No magic in the corridors, but they're outside, and the fire is properly contained, so it's not a danger to anyone."

Evans looked a little surprised and seemed to be wondering on whether to take notes on the technicalities of the rules that were brought up.

**Unfortunately, something about their guilty faces caught Snape's eye. He limped over. He hadn't seen the fire, but he seemed to be looking for a reason to tell them off anyway.**

"Severus"

**"What's that you've got there, Potter?"**

**It was Quidditch Through the Ages. Harry showed him.**

**"Library books are not to be taken outside the school," said Snape.**

"That's not a rule either." McGonagall frowned.

"Severus!" Horace reprimanded.

**"Give it to me. Five points from Gryffindor."**

**"He's just made that rule up," Harry muttered angrily as Snape limped away. "Wonder what's wrong with his leg?"**

"Dunno, but I hope it's really hurting him." said padfoot rather nastily.

**"Dunno, but I hope it's really hurting him," said Ron bitterly.**

"Looks like Harry has his padfoot," prongs said.

"As if the bottomless pit he calls a stomach wasn't a big enough clue," Neville snorted.

Ron yelled "Oi" and padfoot and Sirius attempted to protest the attack on their characters as everyone laughed.

**Neville and Hermione shot him a glare, although for different reasons.**

"Neville because I said it out loud, Hermione because I was talking about a teacher," Ron explained.

Sirius, James, prongs and padfoot exchanged a look before glancing at Remus and Lily and moony and Evans respectively.

**The Gryffindor common room was very noisy that evening. Harry, Ron, Neville and Hermione sat together next to a window. **

**Hermione was checking Neville and Ron's Charms homework for them, and to a lesser extent Harry's.**

Sirius and padfoot again glanced at Remus and moony but turned away and started whistling when both Lupins shot them a look.

**She would never let them copy ("How will you learn?"), but by asking her to read it through, they got the right answers anyway. Harry only asked her to proofread it though**

"At least they have to work for their answers." Lily sighed.

**Hermione sometimes commented that his written work was not up to the same standard as his practical work, but this was largely dismissed with Harry saying he found the practical work to be easier. He couldn't say that he was deliberately dumbing down his marks because he had to do worse than his cousin before Hogwarts, could he?**

"You know we would have helped you if you said something," Ron said.

"Even Snape noticed something was up when your potions were as good as Hermione's but your essays as bad as Ron's," Neville continued.

"It was an old habit that took time to break, for years it was a survival strategy, you can't turn something like that off overnight," Harry replied, not meeting anyone's eyes.

"You shouldn't have had to adopt that strategy to begin with," Hermione told him, lifting his chin to look into his eyes.

**Harry felt restless. He wanted Quidditch Through the Ages back, to take his mind off his nerves about tomorrow. Why should he be afraid of Snape?**

"Because he's a right foul git, who would expel all Gryffindors for being Gryffindors and abolish the house if he could," said the twins.

**Getting up, he told Ron and Hermione he was going to ask Snape if he could have it.**

**"Better you than me," they said together, Neville said "good luck, but Harry had an idea that Snape wouldn't refuse if there were other teachers listening.**

"Indeed," the teachers said, glaring at the man.

**He made his way down to the staffroom and knocked. There was no answer. He knocked again. Nothing.**

**Perhaps Snape had left the book in there? It was worth a try. He pushed the door ajar and peered inside - and a horrible scene met his eyes.**

"What!"

**Snape and Filch were inside, alone.**

"What!" said Sirius.

**Snape was holding his robes above his knees.**

"Oh, Merlin, Harry! Stop!" James pleaded clutching his eyes.

Everyone started to look quite green now.

**One of his legs was bloody and mangled. Filch was handing Snape bandages.**

"See, now why couldn't he have started with that?" asked Sirius.

"Because he obviously didn't know we'd be reading a book that had his thoughts written in or that he'd have it read to you two immature prats," Lily scolded.

"Grow up," Evans agreed, but sighed as prongs remained in the ball he'd curled into a minute ago, shivering and mumbling nonsense, so she sat back and used him as a foot rest.

**"Blasted thing," Snape was saying. "How are you supposed to keep your eyes on all three heads at once?"**

"You're not supposed to," Marlene pointed out.

"Why's he going after it anyway?" padfoot asked suspiciously, his eyes first drifting to Severus by habit but quickly shifting to the real culprit.

"I was trying to protect it," Snape snapped. "However, I must concede this is rather incriminating."

**Harry tried to shut the door quietly, but -**

**"POTTER!"**

**Snape's face was twisted with fury as he dropped his robes quickly to hide his leg. Harry gulped.**

**"I just wondered if I could have my book back."**

"Kid's got guts, I'll give him that." said Frank.

"Thanks," Harry replied.

**"GET OUT! OUT!"**

**Harry left, before Snape could take any more points from Gryffindor. He sprinted back upstairs.**

**"Did you get it?" Ron asked as Harry joined them. "What's the matter?" In a low whisper, Harry told them what he'd seen.**

**"You know what this means?" he finished breathlessly. "He tried to get past that three-headed dog at Halloween! That's where he was going when we saw him - he's after whatever it's guarding! And I'd bet my broomstick he let that troll in, to make a diversion!"**

"No Harry! Not the broomstick!" prongs and padfoot cried.

Evans pouted as her footrest got up and sat back in his seat.

**Neville and Hermione's eyes were wide.**

**"No - he wouldn't," she said. "I know he's not very nice, but he wouldn't try and steal something Dumbledore was keeping safe."**

**"Honestly, Hermione, you think all teachers are saints or something," snapped Ron. **

"No, but close enough," Hermione admitted.

**"I'm with Harry. I wouldn't put anything past Snape. But what's he after? What's that dog guarding?" Neville added.**

**Harry went to bed with his head buzzing with the same question. Neville was snoring loudly, but Harry couldn't sleep. He tried to empty his mind - he needed to sleep, he had to, he had his first Quidditch match in a few hours - but the expression on Snape's face when Harry had seen his leg wasn't easy to forget.**

Several people shuddered at the images their minds conjured.

**The next morning dawned very bright and cold. **

**The Great Hall was full of the delicious smell of fried sausages and the cheerful chatter of everyone looking forward to a good Quidditch match.**

**"You've got to eat some breakfast."**

**"I don't want anything."**

**"Just a bit of toast," wheedled Hermione.**

**"I'm not hungry."**

"Come on, Harry. You could faint while you're in the air if you don't eat anything." Lily fretted.

"He'll be fine Lily. James was the same whenever he was nervous about a match. Or when he was about to ask you out." said Sirius.

Lily glared at him.

**Harry felt terrible. In an hour's time he'd be walking onto the field.**

**"Harry, you need your strength," said Seamus Finnigan. "Seekers are always the ones who get clobbered by the other team."**

"Oh, that's a brilliant way of cheering him." said Lucius, sarcastically.

"Wasn't the other team I should have worried about," Harry said quietly. Hermione squeezed his hand comfortingly.

**"Thanks, Seamus," said Harry, watching Seamus pile ketchup on his sausages.**

**By eleven o'clock the whole school seemed to be out in the stands around the Quidditch pitch. Many students had binoculars. The seats might be raised high in the air, but it was still difficult to see what was going on sometimes.**

**Ron, Neville and Hermione joined, Seamus, and Dean the West Ham fan up in the top row. **

**As a surprise for Harry, they had painted a large banner on one of the sheets Scabbers had ruined. It said Potter for President, and Dean, who was good at drawing, had done a large Gryffindor lion underneath.**

"That's really sweet." Molly cooed.

**Then Hermione had performed a tricky little charm so that the paint flashed different colours.**

"That's pretty damn clever," said Sirius, impressed.

Hermione went pink again.

**Meanwhile, in the locker room, Harry and the rest of the team were changing into their scarlet Quidditch robes (Slytherin would be playing in green).**

**Wood cleared his throat for silence.**

Harry repeated the action, "Okay men."

"And women," Hermione said.

"And women," Harry agreed. "This is it."

"The big one," said Fred.

"The one we've all been waiting for," George said.

"We know Oliver's speech off by heart," Fred said to Harry, "we were on the team last year."

"Shut up, you two," Harry snapped. "This is the best team Gryffindor's had in years. We're going to win. I know it."

Harry them glared at them as if to say 'or else'.

Fred and George flinched, as well as several other people; Harry was definitely more intimidating than Oliver.

"Thank Merlin we won't be here when he makes captain," Fred muttered to his twin.

**"Okay, men," he said.**

**"And women," said Chaser Angelina Johnson.**

**"And women," Wood agreed. "This is it."**

**"The big one," said Fred Weasley.**

**"The one we've all been waiting for," said George.**

**"We know Oliver's speech by heart," Fred told Harry, "we were on the team last year."**

**"Shut up, you two," said Wood. "This is the best team Gryffindor's had in years. We're going to win. I know it."**

**He glared at them all as if to say, "Or else."**

"He reminds me of someone," Sirius said thoughtfully, before turning to look at James just as Remus did.

James went bright red and ignored him, and tried to ignore how his wife was giggling like a schoolgirl next to him.

**"Right. It's time. Good luck, all of you."**

**Harry followed Fred and George out of the locker room and, hoping his knees weren't going to give way, walked onto the field to loud cheers.**

**Madam Hooch was refereeing. She stood in the middle of the field waiting for the two teams, her broom in her hand.**

**"Now, I want a nice fair game, all of you," she said, once they were all gathered around her.**

"Yeah right," Charlie scoffed.

**Harry noticed that she seemed to be speaking particularly to the Slytherin Captain, Marcus Flint, a sixth year. Harry thought Flint looked as if he had some troll blood in him.**

"He does," Lucius and Regulus said.

**Out of the corner of his eye he saw the fluttering banner high above, flashing Potter for President over the crowd. His heart skipped. He felt braver.**

Lily smiled.

**"Mount your brooms, please."**

Padfoot sniggered again but was hit by several cushions.

**Harry clambered onto his Nimbus Two Thousand. Madam Hooch gave a loud blast on her silver whistle. Fifteen brooms rose up, high, high into the air. They were off.**

Remus suddenly took a deep breath and started projecting his voice, just the way he had when _he_ commentated.

_**"And the Quaffle is taken immediately by Angelina Johnson of Gryffindor – what an excellent Chaser that girl is, and rather attractive, too -"**_

"Brilliant!" James, Sirius, prongs and padfoot yelled.

George however scowled for some reason, He sulked further when Harry shot him a knowing smirk and Fred noticed.

_**"JORDAN!"**_

"Brings back a lot of memories," Sirius sighed, grinning at both Minerva and Remus.

**The Weasley twins' friend, Lee Jordan, was doing the commentary for the match, closely watched by Professor McGonagall.**

"Yeah, she always insisted on supervising mine as well." Remus chuckled.

"With good reason."

"Come on Professor. Remus' commentaries were hilarious." said Frank.

"If I remember correctly, his _commentary_ in the previous match is what caused me to ban him from the Quidditch pitch for the last match of his third year."

"Come on, Professor!" Remus huffed, "Rosier could've broken James' neck with the stunt he pulled. You couldn't expect me to ignore it!"

"Besides, as far as my memory serves me, you tried to get him replaced, and when you advertised the position, nobody, not even the _Slytherins,_ applied, because everyone loved Remus' commentary so much." Alice launched.

_**"And she's really belting along up there, a neat pass to Alicia Spinnet, a good find of Oliver Wood's, last year only a reserve - back to Johnson and - no, the Slytherins have taken the Quaffle, **_

_**Slytherin Captain Marcus Flint gains the Quaffle and off he goes - Flint flying like an eagle up there - he's going to sc- no, stopped by an excellent move by Gryffindor Keeper Wood and the Gryffindors take the Quaffle - that's Chaser Katie Bell of Gryffindor there, nice dive around Flint, off up the field and - OUCH - that must have hurt, hit in the back of the head by a Bludger - Quaffle taken by the Slytherins - that's Adrian Pucey speeding off toward the goal posts, but he's blocked by a second Bludger - sent his way by Fred or George Weasley, can't tell which **_

"He's known us three years and can't tell us apart, yet Harry's known us three months and can implicate _either_ of us in his pranks," George huffed.

_**- nice play by the Gryffindor Beater, anyway, and Johnson back in possession of the Quaffle, a clear field ahead and off she goes - she's really flying - dodges a speeding Bludger - the goal posts are ahead - come on, now, Angelina - Keeper Bletchley dives - misses - GRYFFINDORS SCORE!"**_

"Yes" the gryffindors, hufflepuffs and ravenclaws cheered.

**Gryffindor cheers filled the cold air, with howls and moans from the Slytherins.**

**"Budge up there, move along."**

**"Hagrid!"**

**Ron, Neville and Hermione squeezed together to give Hagrid enough space to join them.**

**"Bin watchin' from me hut," said Hagrid, patting a large pair of binoculars around his neck, "But it isn't the same as bein' in the crowd.**

**No sign of the Snitch yet, eh?"**

**"Nope," said Ron. "Harry hasn't had much to do yet."**

**"Kept outta trouble, though, that's somethin',"**

Hermione sent Harry an amused grin for some reason, Harry shrugged innocently back.

**said Hagrid, raising his binoculars and peering skyward at the speck that was Harry.**

**Way up above them, Harry was gliding over the game, squinting about for some sign of the Snitch. This was part of his and Wood's game plan.**

**"Keep out of the way until you catch sight of the Snitch," Wood had said. "We don't want you attacked before you have to be."**

"Good," Lily sighed.

**When Angelina had scored, Harry had done a couple of loop-the-loops to let off his feelings. Now he was back to staring around for the Snitch.**

**Once he caught sight of a flash of gold, but it was just a reflection from one of the Weasleys' wristwatches,**

"And that's why you don't wear gold to matches," James said before prongs and padfoot could start ranting.

**and once a Bludger decided to come pelting his way, more like a cannonball than anything, but Harry dodged it and Fred Weasley came chasing after it.**

**"All right there, Harry?" he had time to yell, as he beat the Bludger furiously toward Marcus Flint.**

_**"Slytherin in possession,"**_** Lee Jordan was saying, **_**"Chaser Pucey ducks two Bludgers, two Weasleys, and Chaser Bell, and speeds toward the - wait a moment - was that the Snitch?"**_

**A murmur ran through the crowd as Adrian Pucey dropped the Quaffle, too busy looking over his shoulder at the flash of gold that had passed his left ear.**

"Idiot! Don't let anything like that distract you," James said exasperatedly, Regulus and Lucius grumbled in agreement.

"Mate, you're giving tactical advice to the enemy," Sirius pointed out.

The horntail would have soiled itself at the glare James shot at his best friend.

Sirius turned into snuffles, ducked behind the couch Harry and Hermione were on.

**Harry saw it. In a great rush of excitement he dived downward after the streak of gold. Slytherin Seeker Terence Higgs had seen it, too. Neck and neck they hurtled toward the Snitch -all the Chasers seemed to have forgotten what they were supposed to be doing as they hung in midair to watch.**

"Idiots."

"Preaching to the choir,"

**Harry was faster than Higgs - he could see the little round ball, wings fluttering, darting up ahead - - he put on an extra spurt of speed - WHAM! **

Lily squeaked again but calmed down as Harry put his hand on her arm.

**A roar of rage echoed from the Gryffindors below - Marcus Flint had blocked Harry on purpose, and Harry's broom spun off course, Harry holding on for dear life.**

"FOUL" the Quidditch fanatics screeched.

**"Foul!" screamed the Gryffindors.**

**Madam Hooch spoke angrily to Flint and then ordered a free shot at the goal posts for Gryffindor. But in all the confusion, of course, the Golden Snitch had disappeared from sight again.**

**Down in the stands, Dean Thomas was yelling, "Send him off, ref! Red card!"**

"Huh?"

**"What are you talking about, Dean?" said Ron.**

**"Red card!" said Dean furiously. "In football you get shown the red card and you're out of the game!"**

"But this isn't football," Ron reminded everyone.

**"But this isn't football, Dean," Ron reminded him.**

**Hagrid, however, was on Dean's side.**

**"They oughta change the rules. Flint coulda knocked Harry outta the air."**

"That's one thing we _should_ adopt from muggle sports, some of the fouls I've seen I believed should get someone kicked out of the game," Lucius said.

Nearly everyone stared at him in surprise.

"Never thought I'd say this, but I agree with Malfoy," padfoot added.

**Lee Jordan was finding it difficult not to take sides.**

_**"So - after that obvious and disgusting bit of cheating**_

**"Jordan!" growled Professor McGonagall.**

_**"I mean, after that open and revolting foul**_

**'Jordan, I'm warning you -"**

"Oh come on Professor, that wasn't even close to what Remus always came out with," Marlene laughed.

"And I wasn't going to risk anymore such displays," Minerva sniffed. "If it wasn't _for_ his commentaries I wouldn't have to watch the commentator so closely."

Remus hid his smile and continued.

_**"All right, all right. Flint nearly kills the Gryffindor Seeker, which could happen to anyone, I'm sure, so a penalty to Gryffindor, taken by Spinner, who puts it away, no trouble, and we continue play, Gryffindor still in possession."**_

**It was as Harry dodged another Bludger, which went spinning dangerously past his head, that it happened.**

"What happened?" Lily asked, worried.

**His broom gave a sudden, frightening lurch.**

"Someone's cursing his broom." exclaimed Arthur.

James and Lily paled, while Sirius and Remus had looks on their face that clearly said if they found out who was doing that to Harry, they'd curse them so badly, there'd be nothing left to identify as human remains.

**For a split second, he thought he was going to fall. He gripped the broom tightly with both his hands and knees. He'd never felt anything like that.**

**It happened again. It was as though the broom was trying to buck him off. But Nimbus Two Thousands did not suddenly decide to buck their riders off. **

"No, they don't," someone said suspiciously.

**Harry tried to turn back toward the Gryffindor goal- posts - he had half a mind to ask Wood to call time-out - and then he realized that his broom was completely out of his control. **

**He couldn't turn it. He couldn't direct it at all. It was zigzagging through the air, and every now and then making violent swishing movements that almost unseated him.**

"Who the hell is trying to hurt my son?" James growled.

**Lee was still commentating.**

"Why has no one noticed?" Alice shrieked.

"Altitude," Harry replied bitterly.

Everyone paled as they remembered Wood's strategy for Harry

_**"Slytherin in possession - Flint with the Quaffle - passes Spinnet - passes Bell - hit hard in the face by a Bludger, hope it broke his nose - only joking, Professor - Slytherins score - A no...**_

**The Slytherins were cheering. No one seemed to have noticed that Harry's broom was behaving strangely. It was carrying- him slowly higher, away from the game, jerking and twitching as it went.**

**"Dunno what Harry thinks he's doing," Hagrid mumbled. He stared through his binoculars. "If I didn' know better, I'd say he'd lost control of his broom... but he can't have..."**

"He has," said Neville, darkly.

**Suddenly, people were pointing up at Harry all over the stands. His broom had started to roll over and over, with him only just managing to hold on. Then the whole crowd gasped. Harry's broom had given a wild jerk and Harry swung off it. He was now dangling from it, holding on with only one hand.**

"No!" Lily cried, James pulled her into a hug and tried to comfort her.

**"Did something happen to it when Flint blocked him?" Seamus whispered.**

**"Can't have," Hagrid said, his voice shaking. "Can't nothing interfere with a broomstick except powerful Dark magic - no kid could do that to a Nimbus Two Thousand."**

"Exactly, _No Kid,_" Ron muttered.

**At these words, Hermione seized Hagrid's binoculars, but instead of looking up at Harry, she started looking frantically at the crowd.**

"What are you doing?" padfoot asked.

**"What are you doing?" moaned Ron, gray-faced.**

"She's looking for who's cursing the broom." growled Moody.

**"I knew it," Hermione gasped, "Snape - look."**

"Snape!" James jumped up and once again raised his wand, but it was wrenched from his grip.

"IT WASN'T HIM, listen to the whole story before you make a judgment," Harry said firmly, pocketing his father's wand.

James sat back down but never took his eyes off of Snape, Lily, Sirius and Remus did the same.

**Ron grabbed the binoculars. Snape was in the middle of the stands opposite them. He had his eyes fixed on Harry and was muttering nonstop under his breath.**

**"He's doing something - jinxing the broom," said Hermione.**

**"What should we do?"**

**"Leave it to me."**

"What can she do? She's just a first year." asked padfoot.

"I thought we established Hermione isn't a normal first-year?" Harry asked.

"Besides, all she needs to do is break his eye contact for a second," Arthur added.

**Before Ron could say another word, Hermione had disappeared. Ron turned the binoculars back on Harry. His broom was vibrating so hard, it was almost impossible for him to hang on much longer. **

**The whole crowd was on its feet, watching, terrified, as the Weasleys flew up to try and pull Harry safely onto one of their brooms, but it was no good - every time they got near him, the broom would jump higher still. They dropped lower and circled beneath him, obviously hoping to catch him if he fell.**

"Thank you, guys,"

**Marcus Flint seized the Quaffle and scored five times without anyone noticing.**

Ron called Flint something that made Molly and Lily fire a _scourgify_ into his mouth, most of the guys make a note to use that sometime and the girls, especially Violet, stare at him in shock and disbelief.

"Where did you learn such language?" Molly demanded. Ron pointed to Harry as he'd lost all feeling in his mouth.

"And where did you learn such language?" Lily asked dangerously, Molly glared at him like he was Draco Malfoy and even Hermione was glaring at him, although there was an annoying twinkle of amusement in her eyes.

"Vernon, Dudley," Harry started counting off while looking at ceiling thoughtfully. "Draco, Lucius…"

Lucius gulped audibly and shrank away from Narcissa's glare.

"…Sirius,"

Sirius and padfoot suddenly began visibly shaking as Lily and Evans' gaze turned to them, the women's hair beginning to fan out due to her anger.

Harry gulped, "Hagrid,…"

Lily sighed as Molly gave no indication of having heard, Hagrid was a given due to his personality.

"Bill, Charlie, Fred, George, Arthur…"

Molly's head shot to each of them in turn, shock rather than anger on her face as each looked sheepish.

"And Minnie,"

Lily and Molly turned to look incredulously at Minerva but she was sending Harry a look that said 'you shouldn't have been awake or listening'.

**"Come on, Hermione," Ron muttered desperately.**

**Hermione had fought her way across to the stand where Snape stood, and was now racing along the space beneath the seats.**

**Reaching Snape, she crouched down, pulled out her wand, aimed between the sea of legs in front of her and whispered a few, well- chosen words. Bright blue flames shot from her wand onto the hem of Snape's robes.**

"You set me on fire!" Snape bellowed, glaring fiercely at Hermione, who was now holding onto Harry very tightly and had buried her face in his neck, the boy in question was glaring defiantly at him.

**The moment the flames took, Hermione scrambled away and back towards the stairs. Snape would never know what had happened.**

**It took perhaps thirty seconds for Snape to realize that he was on fire. A sudden yelp told her she had done her job. ****As she turned to run down the stairs, she saw Snape jump up and start stamping on the flames, barely noticing Professor Quirrell get knocked over as she did.**

'I wonder why that's mentioned,' Remus thought.

**It was enough. Up in the air, Harry was suddenly able to clamber back on to his broom.**

Nearly everyone sighed in relief.

**"Neville, you can look!" Ron said. Neville had been sobbing into Hagrid's jacket for the last five minutes.**

**Harry was speeding toward the ground when the crowd saw him clap his hand to his mouth as though he was about to be sick**

"Wouldn't surprise me," someone said

**- he hit the field on all fours - coughed - and something gold fell into his hand.**

"No way." said Charlie, as the adults sat awestruck, "No bloody way!"

**"I've got the Snitch!" he shouted, waving it above his head, and the game ended in complete confusion.**

"It's actually in the latest copy of 'Quidditch Through The Ages', it's called the 'Potter Catch'," Bill told Harry.

"My son made it into the pages of my favourite book?" James and prongs asked excitedly

**"He didn't catch it, he nearly swallowed it," Flint was still howling twenty minutes later, but it made no difference - Harry hadn't broken any rules and Lee Jordan was still happily shouting the results - Gryffindor had won by one hundred and seventy points to sixty.**

**Harry heard none of this, though.**

"What? Why not?"

**He was being made a cup of strong tea back in Hagrid's hut, with Ron, Neville and Hermione.**

"celebrating his first win with his closest friends," moony said, smiling.

**"It was Snape," Ron was explaining, "Hermione and I saw him. He was cursing your broomstick, muttering, he wouldn't take his eyes off you."**

**"Rubbish," said Hagrid, who hadn't heard a word of what had gone on next to him in the stands. "Why would Snape do somethin' like that?"**

"**I admit, it's possible he was trying to counter whatever was being done to my broom," Harry said slowly, Neville and Hermione looked at him curiously while Ron stared like he'd grown a third arm from his forehead. "I mean, if that's a method to cast a curse, it's possible the counter-curse uses the exact same technique."**

"Exactly," Snape said triumphantly.

**Neville didn't look entirely convinced. While Hermione looked unsure, she was biting her lip cutely but stopped and gave a small node before turning back to Hagrid with an odd look in her eye. Harry knew that look; she'd just decided to look in the library for any information.**

Hermione glared lightly at Harry as their friends laughed.

**Ron was unconvinced, "he hates Harry, he's made that clear since they first met."**

"**Rubbish," Hagrid replied, but he wouldn't meet their eyes.**

**Harry, Ron, Neville and Hermione looked at one another, wondering what to tell him. Harry decided on the truth.**

**"I found out something about him," he told Hagrid. "He tried to get past that three-headed dog on Halloween. It bit him. We think he was trying to steal whatever it's guarding."**

**Hagrid dropped the teapot.**

**"How do you know about Fluffy?" he said.**

Everyone just gawked at him. Then Lily asked weakly, "Fluffy, Hagrid? _Fluffy? _Seriously?"

"And that's not the worst of it," Hermione said quietly, Harry nudged her in the ribs.

"They're all going to find out, I don't want to tip them off to soon, I like being both alive and male," Harry said, going a little green imagining the possible consequences for first year _alone_.

**"Fluffy?"**

**"Yeah - he's mine - bought him off a Greek chappie I met in the pub las' year - I lent him to Dumbledore to guard the…**

"Hagrid!" said McGonagall, exasperatedly.

**"Yes?" said Harry eagerly.**

**"Now, don't ask me anymore," said Hagrid gruffly. "That's top secret, that is."**

**"But Snape's trying to steal it." Ron protested.**

"**Snape **_**MAY**_** be trying to steal it," Harry corrected him, he wasn't certain that Snape wasn't being used as a smokescreen, the greasy bat was the obvious choice of culprit, although it didn't help that there were no other suspects.**

Snape held his tongue as everyone laughed, if only because the boy was actually thinking and not just accepting what he saw as fact.

**"Rubbish," said Hagrid again. "Snape's a Hogwarts teacher, he'd do nothin' of the sort."**

**"So why did he just try and kill Harry?" cried Hermione.**

**The afternoon's events certainly seemed to have changed her mind about Snape.**

"**I know a jinx when I see one, Hagrid, I've read all about them! You've got to keep eye contact, and Snape wasn't blinking at all, I saw him!"**

"The process is the same for a counter-curse," Harry reminded her.

Hermione went pink.

**"I'm tellin' yeh, yer wrong!" said Hagrid hotly. "I don' know why Harry's broom acted like that, but Snape wouldn' try an' kill a student! Now, listen to me, all three of yeh - yer meddlin' in things that don' concern yeh. It's dangerous. You forget that dog, an' you forget what it's guardin', that's between Professor Dumbledore an' Nicolas Flamel -"**

"Oh, Hagrid." Lily sighed.

**"Aha!" said Harry, "so there's someone called Nicolas Flamel involved, is there?"**

**Hagrid looked furious with himself.**

Several of the adults looked furious with him too.

"And that's the end," Remus said, "Who's next?"

"I will read, Remus," Charlus said.

Remus handed the book to Charlus.

Charlus found the right page and cleared his throat, "**Chapter-Twelve, The Mirror of Erised."**


	14. Chapter 14-The Mirror of Erised

The Mirror of Erised.

"**Chapter-Twelve, THE MIRROR OF ERISED" **Charlus read.

Ron and Harry exchanged a nervous look. "I don't think we should read this chapter."

"Why?" Violet asked, looking at Ron.

"It's… rather personal," Harry explained in a strained voice, looking quite distressed at what might be read.

"The note said we have to read it all," Dumbledore said gently, clearly uncertain that this was the right thing to do.

Hermione wrapped her arms around Harry's neck and hugged him gently, whispering into his ear, "I'm here for you, so are your family, Harry."

Harry hugged her back, kissing her softly before nodding to his grandfather to continue.

**Christmas was coming. One morning in mid-December, Hogwarts woke to find itself covered in several feet of snow. The lake froze solid and the Weasley twins were punished for bewitching several snowballs so that they followed Quirrell around, bouncing off the back of his turban. **

"Oh Merlin!" Ron whispered, going ghostly pale (not a good look with his hair and freckles).

"They were hitting…" Hermione whispered, once again going as pale as the grey lady, before burying her face in Harry's chest.

Harry also looked very pale.

Everyone stared at them but otherwise ignored them.

**The few owls that managed to battle their way through the stormy sky to deliver mail had to be nursed back to health by Hagrid before they could fly off again.**

"Poor owls," Alice and Evans said.

**No one could wait for the holidays to start. **

"The same every year," Prongs said to general agreement.

**While the Gryffindor common room and the Great Hall had roaring fires, the drafty corridors had become icy and a bitter wind rattled the windows in the classrooms. Worst of all were Professor Snape's classes down in the dungeons, where their breath rose in a mist before them and they kept as close as possible to their hot cauldrons.**

"For Merlin's sake, I know heating charms in the air mess with the potions but at least heat the damn floor," Sirius exclaimed at the same time as Horace shouted "Severus!"

**"I do feel so sorry," said Draco Malfoy, one Potions class, "for all those people who have to stay at Hogwarts for Christmas because they're not wanted at home."**

"He did not just say that!" Regulus, padfoot and Sirius snarled.

Severus was muttering curses under his breath while his older counterpart looked like he was having his eyes opened to his godson's behaviour.

**He was looking over at Harry as he spoke. Crabbe and Goyle chuckled. Harry, who was measuring out powdered spine of lionfish, ignored them.**

**Malfoy had been even more unpleasant than usual since the Quidditch match. **

**Disgusted that the Slytherins had lost, he had tried to get everyone laughing at how a wide-mouthed tree frog would be replacing Harry as Seeker next. **

"Real funny, ferret," Evans said sarcastically, not noticing that she used her son's nickname for Draco or the stunned looks from said son and his friends.

**Then he'd realized that nobody found this funny, because they were all so impressed at the way Harry had managed to stay on his bucking broomstick. So Malfoy, jealous and angry, had gone back to taunting Harry about having no proper family.**

"I WILL be talking to Draco about this when I get back," Snape said quietly.

**It was true that Harry wasn't going back to Privet Drive for Christmas. Professor McGonagall had come around the week before, making a list of students who would be staying for the holidays, and Harry had signed up at once. **

**He didn't feel sorry for himself at all; this would probably be the best Christmas he'd ever had. **

Everyone looked sadly at Harry, that was most likely the truth.

**Ron and his brothers were staying, too, because Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were going to Romania to visit Charlie.**

**Hermione and Neville were going home to visit family.**

**When they left the dungeons at the end of Potions, they found a large fir tree blocking the corridor ahead. Two enormous feet sticking out at the bottom and a loud puffing sound told them that Hagrid was behind it.**

**"Hi, Hagrid, want any help?" Ron asked, sticking his head through the branches.**

"What were you going to do?" Charlie asked.

Ron looked at him, "levitation charm, I got a lot better after the quidditch match, and with these three helping it would have been no problem."

**"Nah, I'm all right, thanks, Ron."**

**"Would you mind moving out of the way?" came Malfoys cold drawl from behind them. "Are you trying to earn some extra money, Weasley? Hoping to be gamekeeper yourself when you leave Hogwarts, I suppose - that hut of Hagrid's must seem like a palace compared to what your family's used to."**

There were growls throughout the room, Ron looked like he was itching to hex the ferret but Lavender was keeping him calm, ish.

**Ron dived at Malfoy just as Snape came up the stairs.**

**"WEASLEY!"**

"Just great," padfoot and Regulus muttered.

**Ron let go of the front of Malfoy's robes.**

**"He was provoked, Professor Snape," said Hagrid, sticking his huge hairy face out from behind the tree. "Malfoy was insultin' his family."**

**"Be that as it may, fighting is against Hogwarts rules, Hagrid," said Snape silkily. "Five points from Gryffindor, Weasley, and be grateful it isn't more. Move along, all of you."**

"That's not fair! Malfoy should have gotten points taken away for bullying!" Lily cried.

All the teachers seemed to agree.

Snape looked anywhere but at his former friend or his colleagues.

**Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle pushed roughly past the tree, scattering needles everywhere and smirking.**

**"I'll get him," said Ron, grinding his teeth at Malfoy's back, "one of these days, I'll get him -"**

"Not yet, but there have been some great moments regardless," Ron laughed.

**"I hate them both," said Harry, "Malfoy and Snape."**

Lily sighed and leant into her husband, not looking at her former friend, James hugged her comfortingly.

**"Come on, cheer up, it's nearly Christmas," said Hagrid. "Tell yeh what, come with me an' see the Great Hall, looks a treat."**

**So the four of them followed Hagrid and his tree off to -the Great Hall, where Professor McGonagall and Professor Flitwick were busy with the Christmas decorations.**

**"Ah, Hagrid, the last tree - put it in the far corner, would you?"**

**The hall looked spectacular. Festoons of holly and mistletoe hung all around the walls, and no less than twelve towering Christmas trees stood around the room, some sparkling with tiny icicles, some glittering with hundreds of candles.**

"It's always so beautiful," Lavender said.

**"How many days you got left until yer holidays?" Hagrid asked.**

**"Just one," said Hermione. "And that reminds me -Harry, Ron, Neville we've got half an hour before lunch, we should be in the library."**

**"Oh yeah, you're right," said Ron, tearing his eyes away from Professor Flitwick, who had golden bubbles blossoming out of his wand and was trailing them over the branches of the new tree.**

"It's always interesting to watch the decorations go up," Fred said, his eyes glazed over slightly.

**"The library?" said Hagrid, following them out of the hall. "Just before the holidays? Bit keen, aren't yeh?"**

**"Oh, we're not working," Harry told him brightly. "Ever since you mentioned Nicolas Flamel we've been trying to find out who he is."**

"Of course," Lily sighed again, she didn't need to look around to know her husband was grinning but let it go, accepting there was a bit of both of them in Harry, no matter how annoying that was.

**"You what?" Hagrid looked shocked. "Listen here - I've told yeh - drop it. It's nothin' to you what that dog's guardin'."**

**"We just want to know who Nicolas Flamel is, that's all," said Hermione.**

**"Unless you'd like to tell us and save us the trouble?" Harry added. "We must've been through hundreds of books already and we can't find him anywhere - just give us a hint - I know I've read his name somewhere."**

"I think I've heard it before too," Moony muttered.

Harry had to stifle a laugh.

**"I'm sayin' nothin, said Hagrid flatly.**

**"Just have to find out for ourselves, then," said Ron, and they left Hagrid looking disgruntled and hurried off to the library.**

"Just like you three," Evans sighed, glaring lightly at a now grinning prongs.

**They had indeed been searching books for Flamel's name ever since Hagrid had let it slip, because how else were they going to find out what Snape was trying to steal? **

**The trouble was, it was very hard to know where to begin, not knowing what Flamel might have done to get himself into a book. **

**He wasn't in Great Wizards of the Twentieth Century, or Notable Magical Names of Our Time; he was missing, too, from Important Modern Magical Discoveries, and A Study of Recent Developments in Wizardry. **

"He's not in any of them," Dumbledore said, smiling.

**And then, of course, there was the sheer size of the library; tens of thousands of books; thousands of shelves; hundreds of narrow rows.**

**Hermione took out a list of subjects and titles she had decided to search while Ron strode off down a row of books and started pulling them off the shelves at random.**

"Good place to start if you don't know what you are looking for," Moody muttered.

Ron looked very happy.

**Neville was looking through some of the specialised topic books, rationalising that if the object was powerful or dangerous enough to warrant a Cerberus plus Dumbledore it had to have certain unique and valuable properties**

"Good thinking," Moody grunted approvingly.

**Harry wandered over to the Restricted Section. He had been wondering for a while if Flamel wasn't somewhere in there. **

"Maybe, but not in much I'd think," Filius said.

**Unfortunately, you needed a specially signed note from one of the teachers to look in any of the restricted books, and he knew he'd never get one. These were the books containing powerful Dark Magic never taught at Hogwarts, and only read by older students studying advanced Defense Against the Dark Arts, or specialised magics that only masters could attempt.**

**"What are you looking for, boy?"**

**"Nothing," said Harry.**

**Madam Pince the librarian brandished a feather duster at him.**

"You really need to learn to lie," Sirius groaned, not noticing the look Lily sent him.

**"You'd better get out, then. Go on - out!"**

**Wishing he'd been a bit quicker at thinking up some story, Harry left the library. **

**He, Ron, Neville and Hermione had already agreed they'd better not ask Madam Pince where they could find Flamel. They were sure she'd be able to tell them, but they couldn't risk Snape hearing what they were up to.**

**Harry waited outside in the corridor to see if the other two had found anything, but he wasn't very hopeful. They had been looking for two weeks, after all, but as they only had odd moments between lessons it wasn't surprising they'd found nothing. **

**What they really needed was a nice long search without Madam Pince breathing down their necks.**

"Or some chocolate frogs," Hermione whispered, causing Ron and Harry to hide their laughter.

"Not going to happen," Remus said smiling, his face dropped at Harry and Hermione's grins, "you didn't?"

"Fourth year, before the second task, twenty hours straight with no interruptions," Harry said proudly, watching his mother and Remus' jaws drop and Evans and Moony go green in envy.

**Five minutes later, Ron, Neville and Hermione joined him, shaking their heads. They went off to lunch.**

**"You will keep looking while we're away, won't you?" said Hermione. "And send us an owl if you find anything."**

**"And you could ask your parents if they know who Flamel is," said Ron. "It'd be safe to ask them."**

**"Very safe, as they're both dentists," said Hermione.**

"What's a dentist?" Lucius asked.

"They're a type of healer who work on people's teeth," Hermione explained.

**The leaving feast was a night to remember for years to come, Harry had met Dumbledore after being sent to Professor McGonagall's office after a prank on Malfoy, which he had no part in, and had ended up spending a few hours talking to the headmaster about various things, mostly what achievements he was proud of and ended up being permitted to borrow the Deluminator for the evening.**

Several people sent Harry an inquisitive look but he ignored them.

**Harry had prepared a special prank that evening, and it was only practical if he could use a deluminator. Fortunately a deluminator had two settings, the first turned a light source into a ball of energy and summoned it to the device, the second would dim all light sources in the immediate area.**

Prongs smiled proudly at Harry, Evans glared lightly but seemed intrigued.

**Harry waited until everyone was eating before checking to make sure he knew his target's exact locations. He then set the deluminator to the second setting and lowered the lights to near complete darkness before casting the two transfiguration spells at Snape and Malfoy before transforming, picking up the deluminator in his teeth and heading to the staff table.**

**As he reached the staff table, neon blue and pink light lit up the hall, he dropped the device on Dumbledore's plate and hurried back to his seat, getting back and transforming just before Dumbledore restored the lights.**

**Snape and Malfoy's hair was now neon blue and pink respectively, and the cancelling charms weren't working.**

The room echoed with laughter, even Severus and Evans were laughing, it was actually innocent and funny unlike the modifications prongs was now proposing.

**Snape changed his hair back first, his eyes sweeping the Gryffindor table, e zeroed in on the Weasley twins and Harry, all laughing hard.**

"Don't even think about it," Sirius warned.

**He got up from the staff table and began to head for his suspects, but as he entered the head of the gap between the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff tables there was a loud, feline like shriek from the entrance hall.**

**Everyone turned to the doors as a small, furry brown streak shot into the hall and jumped onto Snape, making the man yell in pain.**

**Mrs Norris had sunk her claws into his leg.**

Nearly everyone sniggered as the man glared at Harry.

**A second later, a loud bark came from the entrance hall and a small black and white wolf charged in, skidding to a halt in front of Snape.**

"Luna?"

"Luna"

**The wolf sat and stared unblinkingly at Mrs Norris, her tail going slowly from side to side as she watched the terrified feline.**

"You know, I actually felt sorry for her at that point," Ron admitted.

**Mrs Norris made a terrified mewl and pulled herself tighter to the professor's leg, making the man grimace, before crying out and trying to shake of the feline as she wet herself on his leg.**

Snape groaned as the room erupted in laughter again, several people had fallen out of their seats as they imagined the scene.

**Mr Filch came up and tried to rescue his cat but Mrs Norris wouldn't let go as long as that wolf was watching.**

"**Luna" Harry called, "Luna, come here."**

"No Harry, don't spoil it,"

**The twins shot Harry a look that said 'don't', but he ignored them, "Luna, leave that shoe brush alone for now, or no bacon until New Year's, I'll have the house elves make sure of it."**

**The wolf looked at him, as if saying 'you wouldn't' Harry sent a look back that said 'I will', the wolf got up and padded away from Snape, settling into a spot between Harry and Hermione's legs.**

**The feast continued after that, Malfoy having his hair fixed as he left, Snape was not allowed to punish Harry or the twins.**

**Once the holidays had started, Ron and Harry were having too good a time to think much about Flamel.**

**They had the dormitory to themselves and the common room was far emptier than usual, so they were able to get the good armchairs by the fire. **

**They sat by the hour eating anything they could spear on a toasting fork - bread, English muffins, marshmallows - and plotting ways of getting Malfoy expelled, which were fun to talk about even if they wouldn't work.**

"That sounds familiar," Evans said looking at prongs and padfoot.

**Ron also started teaching Harry wizard chess. This was exactly like Muggle chess except that the figures were alive, which made it a lot like directing troops in battle. **

**Ron's set was very old and battered. Like everything else he owned, it had once belonged to someone else in his family - in this case, his grandfather. **

**However, old chessmen weren't a drawback at all. Ron knew them so well he never had trouble getting them to do what he wanted.**

**Harry played with chessmen Seamus Finnigan had lent him, and they didn't trust him at all. He wasn't a very good player yet and they kept shouting different bits of advice at him, which was confusing. "Don't send me there, can't you see his knight? Send him, we can afford to lose him." **

**On Christmas Eve, Harry went to bed looking forward to the next day for the food and the fun, but not expecting any presents at all. **

Everyone from Harry's family exchanged a look, silently promising to spoil him and Violet this year.

**When he woke early in the morning, however, the first thing he saw was a small pile of packages at the foot of his bed.**

**"Merry Christmas," said Ron sleepily as Harry scrambled out of bed and pulled on his bathrobe.**

**"You, too," said Harry. "Will you look at this? I've got some presents!"**

**"What did you expect, turnips?" said Ron, turning to his own pile, which was a lot bigger than Harry's.**

**Harry picked up the top parcel. It was wrapped in thick brown paper and scrawled across it was To Harry, from Hagrid. Inside was a roughly cut wooden flute. Hagrid had obviously whittled it himself. Harry blew it - it sounded a bit like an owl.**

Lily made a mental note to thank Hagrid.

**A second, very small parcel contained a note.**

**We received your message and enclose your Christmas present. From Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia. **

**Taped to the note was a fifty-pence piece.**

"Cheap b…" prongs' rant was silenced by Regulus as Evans started pacing their side of the room in anger.

**"That's friendly," said Harry.**

**Ron was fascinated by the fifty pence.**

**"Weird!" he said, "What a shape! This is money?"**

"Look like Arthur isn't the only Muggle crazed Weasley," Tonks teased.

Ron and Arthur blushed and shrugged.

**"You can keep it," said Harry, laughing at how pleased Ron was. "Hagrid and my aunt and uncle - so who sent these?"**

**"I think I know who that one's from," said Ron, turning a bit pink and pointing to a very lumpy parcel. "My mum. I told her you didn't expect any presents and - oh, no," he groaned, "she's made you a Weasley jumper."**

"How sweet, thank you Molly" Lily said.

"It was nothing, Lily," Molly said.

**Harry had torn open the parcel to find a thick, hand-knitted jumper in emerald green and a large box of homemade fudge.**

**"Every year she makes us a jumper," said Ron, unwrapping his own, "and mine's always maroon."**

**"That's really nice of her," said Harry, trying the fudge, which was very tasty.**

**His next present also contained candy - a large box of Chocolate Frogs from Hermione.**

**Neville's present was, surprisingly, an old fashioned fountain pen; apparently they were preferred to quills for signing official documents in the Ministry.**

**This only left one parcel. Harry picked it up and felt it. It was very light. He unwrapped it.**

**Something fluid and silvery gray went slithering to the floor where it lay in gleaming folds.**

James and prongs gasped.

**Ron gasped.**

**"I've heard of those," he said in a hushed voice, dropping the box of Every Flavor Beans he'd gotten from Hermione. "If that's what I think it is - they're really rare, and really valuable."**

"What is it?" Evans asked.

**"What is it?"**

**Harry picked the shining, silvery cloth off the floor. It was strange to the touch, like water woven into material.**

**"It's an invisibility cloak," said Ron, a look of awe on his face. "I'm sure it is - try it on."**

**Harry threw the cloak around his shoulders and Ron gave a yell.**

**"It is! Look down!"**

**Harry looked down at his feet, but they were gone. He dashed to the mirror. Sure enough, his reflection looked back at him, just his head suspended in midair, his body completely invisible. He pulled the cloak over his head and his reflection vanished completely.**

"So that's how you pull so many pranks without getting caught," Evans said, mildly surprised.

**"There's a note!" said Ron suddenly. "A note fell out of it!"**

**Harry pulled off the cloak and seized the letter. Written in narrow, loopy writing he had never seen before were the following words: **

_**Your father left this in my possession before he died.**_

_**It is time it was returned to you.**_

_**Use it well.**_

_**A Very Merry Christmas to you.**_

"Dumbledore," James, Sirius, Remus and Lily said.

The man in question smiled.

"How'd you know?" padfoot asked.

"Other than having given it to the man?" James asked rhetorically, "the description of the handwriting, and the fact it sounds riddle-like."

**There was no signature. Harry stared at the note. Ron was admiring the cloak.**

**"I'd give anything for one of these," he said. "Anything. What's the matter?"**

**"Nothing," said Harry. He felt very strange. Who had sent the cloak? Had it really once belonged to his father?**

"Yes," James said sadly, looking at his son.

**Before he could say or think anything else, the dormitory door was flung open and Fred and George Weasley bounded in. Harry stuffed the cloak quickly out of sight. He didn't feel like sharing it with anyone else yet.**

"We understand Harry," the twins said together.

**"Merry Christmas!"**

**"Hey, look - Harry's got a Weasley jumper, too!"**

**Fred and George were wearing blue jumpers, one with a large yellow F on it, the other a G.**

**"Harry's is better than ours, though," said Fred, holding up Harry's sweater. "She obviously makes more of an effort if you're not family."**

Molly blushed, "that's not true, boys".

**"Why aren't you wearing yours, Ron?" George demanded. "Come on, get it on, they're lovely and warm."**

**"I hate maroon," Ron moaned half-heartedly as he pulled it over his head.**

"You do?" Molly asked a little hurt.

"Blue is my favourite colour, Charlie likes maroon," Ron explained.

Molly nodded in understanding, making a mental note.

**"You haven't got a letter on yours," George observed. "I suppose she thinks you don't forget your name. But we're not stupid - we know we're called Gred and Forge."**

A few people laughed.

**"What's all this noise?"**

**Percy Weasley stuck his head through the door, looking disapproving. He had clearly gotten halfway through unwrapping his presents as he, too, carried a lumpy sweater over his arm, which Fred seized.**

**"P for prefect!"**

Moony and Remus groaned, knowing their friends were likely to buy or make a jumper just to use that joke.

**"Get it on, Percy, come on, we're all wearing ours, even Harry got one."**

**"I - don't - want," said Percy thickly, as the twins forced the sweater over his head, knocking his glasses askew.**

**"And you're not sitting with the prefects today, either," said George. "Christmas is a time for family."**

**They frog-marched Percy from the room, his arms pinned to his side by his sweater.**

Everyone laughed lightly.

"That was pretty funny, you know," Harry said. "Percy was a foot taller and he's being frog-marched by those two."

**Harry had never in all his life had such a Christmas dinner. A hundred fat, roast turkeys; mountains of roast and boiled potatoes; platters of chipolatas; tureens of buttered peas, silver boats of thick, rich gravy and cranberry sauce - and stacks of wizard crackers every few feet along the table.**

"Mmmm, sounds great," Sirius said dreamily, padfoot and Ron appeared to be just stopping themselves from drooling.

"Bottomless pit," prongs, James and Harry muttered fondly.

**These fantastic party favors were nothing like the feeble Muggle ones the Dursleys usually bought, with their little plastic toys and their flimsy paper hats inside. Harry pulled a wizard cracker with Fred and it didn't just bang, it went off with a blast like a cannon and engulfed them all in a cloud of blue smoke, while from the inside exploded a rear admiral's hat and several live, white mice. Up at the High Table, Dumbledore had swapped his pointed wizard's hat for a flowered bonnet,**

Everyone started snickering.

**and was chuckling merrily at a joke Professor Flitwick had just read him.**

**Flaming Christmas puddings followed the turkey. Percy nearly broke his teeth on a silver sickle embedded in his slice. Harry watched Hagrid getting redder and redder in the face as he called for more wine, finally kissing Professor McGonagall on the cheek, who, to Harry's amazement, giggled and blushed, her top hat lopsided.**

**When Harry finally left the table, he was laden down with a stack of things out of the crackers, including a pack of non-explodable, luminous balloons, a Grow-Your-Own-Warts kit, and his own new wizard chess set. The white mice had disappeared and Harry had a nasty feeling they were going to end up as Mrs Norris's Christmas dinner.**

"Unless I catch them, then you use them in class next term," Minerva said.

**Harry and the Weasleys spent a happy afternoon having a furious snowball fight on the grounds. Then, cold, wet, and gasping for breath, they returned to the fire in the Gryffindor common room, where Harry broke in his new chess set by losing spectacularly to Ron. He suspected he wouldn't have lost so badly if Percy hadn't tried to help him so much.**

Everyone laughed a bit at that.

**After a meal of turkey sandwiches, crumpets, trifle, and Christmas cake, everyone felt too full and sleepy to do much before bed except sit and watch Percy chase Fred and George all over Gryffindor tower because they'd stolen his prefect badge.**

**It had been Harry's best Christmas day ever. Yet something had been nagging at the back of his mind all day. Not until he climbed into bed was he free to think about it: the invisibility cloak and whoever had sent it.**

**Ron, full of turkey and cake and with nothing mysterious to bother him, fell asleep almost as soon as he'd drawn the curtains of his four-poster. Harry leaned over the side of his own bed and pulled the cloak out from under it.**

**His father's... this had been his father's. He let the material flow over his hands, smoother than silk, light as air. **

**Use it well, the note had said.**

Lily groaned loudly as James and Harry shrugged.

**He had to try it, now. **

Lily groaned again

**He slipped out of bed and wrapped the cloak around himself. Looking down at his legs, he saw only moonlight and shadows. It was a very funny feeling.**

**Use it well.**

**Suddenly, Harry felt wide-awake. The whole of Hogwarts was open to him in this cloak. Excitement flooded through him as he stood there in the dark and silence. He could go anywhere in this, anywhere, and Filch would never know.**

**Ron grunted in his sleep. Should Harry wake him? Something held him back - his father's cloak - he felt that this time - the first time - he wanted to use it alone.**

"Don't worry Harry. I understand," Ron smiled.

**He crept out of the dormitory, down the stairs, across the common room, and climbed through the portrait hole.**

**"Who's there?" squawked the Fat Lady. **

"Why?" She knows we'll never answer," James asked.

"In case you slip up," Harry said sarcastically, smirking as Sirius and padfoot went red.

**Harry said nothing. He walked quickly down the corridor.**

**Where should he go? He stopped, his heart racing, and thought. And then it came to him. The Restricted Section in the library.**

"Out of all the places to go, you go to the library?" Sirius exclaimed.

"I wanted to find out who Flamel was," Harry shrugged.

"Did you?" Evans asked, she was annoyed because she knew she'd heard the name before but couldn't place it.

"Not that night," Harry admitted.

**He'd be able to read as long as he liked, as long as it took to find out who Flamel was. He set off, drawing the invisibility cloak tight around him as he walked.**

**The library was pitch-black and very eerie. Harry lit a lamp to see his way along the rows of books. The lamp looked as if it was floating along in midair, and even though Harry could feel his arm supporting it, the sight gave him the creeps.**

Severus rolled his eyes.

**The Restricted Section was right at the back of the library. Stepping carefully over the rope that separated these books from the rest of the library, he held up his lamp to read the titles.**

**They didn't tell him much. Their peeling, faded gold letters spelled words in languages Harry couldn't understand. Some had no title at all. One book had a dark stain on it that looked horribly like blood.**

Evans shuddered and blushed.

"Pince went mad when you did that," padfoot commented.

Harry turned to Evans, who was glaring at padfoot for reminding her, "Dragon's blood I hope?" he asked apprehensively.

Evans nodded, still glaring at padfoot.

**The hairs on the back of Harry's neck prickled. Maybe he was imagining it, maybe not, but he thought a faint whispering was coming from the books, as though they knew someone was there who shouldn't be.**

"The night charm, designed to deter intruders, it also makes certain specimens of the darker books shriek when opened," Filius explained.

**He had to start somewhere. Setting the lamp down carefully on the floor, he looked along the bottom shelf for an interesting looking book. **

**A large black and silver volume caught his eye. He pulled it out with difficulty, because it was very heavy, and, balancing it on his knee, let it fall open.**

**A piercing, bloodcurdling shriek split the silence - the book was screaming! Harry snapped it shut, but the shriek went on and on, one high, unbroken, earsplitting note. **

**He stumbled backward and knocked over his lamp, which went out at once. Panicking, he heard footsteps coming down the corridor outside - stuffing the shrieking book back on the shelf, he ran for it. **

**He passed Filch in the doorway; Filch's pale, wild eyes looked straight through him, and Harry slipped under Filch's outstretched arm and streaked off up the corridor, the book's shrieks still ringing in his ears.**

**He came to a sudden halt in front of a tall suit of armor. He had been so busy getting away from the library, he hadn't paid attention to where he was going. Perhaps because it was dark, he didn't recognize where he was at all. **

**There was a suit of armor near the kitchens, he knew, but he must be five floors above there.**

"There's armour all over the place, and the move," Lucius scoffed.

"I was eleven," Harry protested.

**"Glad I found you, Professor, I found this in the library Restricted Section, it's still hot which means there's a student out of bed."**

**Harry felt the blood drain out of his face. Wherever he was, Filch must know a shortcut, because his soft, greasy voice was getting nearer, and to his horror, it was Snape who replied, "The Restricted Section? Well, they can't be far, we'll catch them."**

"Just your luck," Neville groaned.

**Harry stood rooted to the spot as Filch and Snape came around the corner ahead. They couldn't see him, of course, but it was a narrow corridor and if they came much nearer they'd knock right into him - the cloak didn't stop him from being solid.**

Remus and James burst out laughing as Sirius went Weasley red.

"Sirius forgot that halfway through fifth year," Remus managed to say after a few minutes, making Sirius glare, padfoot blush and everyone else laugh.

**He backed away as quietly as he could. A door stood ajar to his left. It was his only hope. He squeezed through it, holding his breath, trying not to move it, and to his relief he managed to get inside the room without their noticing anything. **

**They walked straight past, and Harry leaned against the wall, breathing deeply, listening to their footsteps dying away. That had been close, very close. It was a few seconds before he noticed anything about the room he had hidden in.**

**It looked like an unused classroom. The dark shapes of desks and chairs were piled against the walls, and there was an upturned wastepaper basket - but propped against the wall facing him was something that didn't look as if it belonged there, something that looked as if someone had just put it there to keep it out of the way.**

"What is it?" Alice asked.

**It was a magnificent mirror, as high as the ceiling, with an ornate gold frame, standing on two clawed feet. There was an inscription carved around the top: **

_**Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi.**_

"That's not Latin," moony frowned.

Regulus chanted the words silently under his breath, trying to make sense of them.

**His panic fading now that there was no sound of Filch and Snape, Harry moved nearer to the mirror, wanting to look at himself but see no reflection again. He stepped in front of it.**

**He had to clap his hands to his mouth to stop himself from screaming. He whirled around. His heart was pounding far more furiously than when the book had screamed - for he had seen not only himself in the mirror, but there were several people standing right behind him.**

Everyone looked confused except Hermione who hugged Harry, laying her head on his shoulder sadly.

**But the room was empty. Breathing very fast, he turned slowly back to the mirror.**

**There he was, reflected in it, white and scared-looking, and there, reflected behind him, were five others. Harry looked over his shoulder - but still, no one was there. Or were they all invisible, too? Was he in fact in a room with invisible people and this mirror's trick was that it reflected them, invisible or not?**

Everyone looked even more confused now.

**He looked in the mirror again. **

**A woman standing right behind his reflection was smiling at him and waving. He reached out a hand and felt the air behind him. If she was really there, he'd touch her, their reflections were so close together, but he felt only air - she and the others existed only in the mirror.**

**She was a very pretty woman. She had dark red hair and her eyes - her eyes are just like mine, Harry thought, edging a little closer to the glass. Bright green - exactly the same shape, but then he noticed that she was crying; smiling, but crying at the same time.**

"Lily," James, prongs, Remus, moony and Severus whispered.

**The tall, thin, black-haired man standing next to her put his arm around her. He wore glasses, and his hair was very untidy. It stuck up at the back, just as Harry's did.**

"James," Sirius, Minerva and Remus whispered.

**Harry was so close to the mirror now that his nose was nearly touching that of his reflection.**

**"Mom?" he whispered. "Dad?"**

Lily and James went over to Harry and gave him a hug.

**They just looked at him, smiling. And slowly, Harry looked into the faces of the other people in the mirror; and saw an older man just like his father except for the streaks of grey in his hair and a well groomed moustache that made him think of Hercule Poirot, **

"Charlus," William Longbottom said quietly, the man in question smiled sadly as tears fell down his cheeks.

**then there was another woman next to the second man who looked to be around the same age but had sharp grey eyes and aristocratic features.**

"Dorea," McGonagall, Minerva and Augusta whispered.

**But it was the last person that made Harry pause.**

**She was a little girl, a little taller than Harry but maybe a year younger; she had wavy red hair, pale skin, a slender body and a pretty face.**

Violet blushed lightly.

**But it was her eyes that drew his attention most of all, they were hazel but were the same size, same shape and even the same pattern to the flecks in the iris behind round glasses just like he used to wear.**

**She smiled nervously and waved at him.**

"You saw me?" Violet asked incredulously.

"Yeah, though I didn't know it at the time," Harry answered.

**Harry's mind seemed to stop as he waved back, he had… a sister? Or was it **_**'would have had a sister'.**_

"You'd never seen what we looked like before, had you?" James asked.

Harry simply shook his head.

**The Potters smiled and waved at Harry and he stared hungrily back at them, his hands pressed flat against the glass as though he was hoping to fall right through it and reach them. He had a powerful kind of ache inside him, half joy, half terrible sadness.**

Many of the women had tears running down their cheeks.

**How long he stood there, he didn't know. The reflections did not fade and he looked and looked until a distant noise brought him back to his senses. He couldn't stay here, he had to find his way back to bed. He tore his eyes away from his mother's face, whispered, "I'll come back," and hurried from the room.**

"No, don't," Lily begged.

**"You could have woken me up," said Ron, crossly.**

"RON! You could have been nicer!" Molly scolded.

"Yes mum," Ron replied.

**"You can come tonight, I'm going back, I want to show you the mirror."**

**"I'd like to see your mom and dad," Ron said eagerly.**

**"And I want to see all your family, all the Weasleys, you'll be able to show me your other brothers and everyone."**

**"You can see them any old time," said Ron. "Just come round my house this summer. Anyway, maybe it only shows dead people."**

"RON!"

"Seriously, you have the tact and sensitivity of a Cromwell tank," Moony said.

"A what?" Regulus and Lucius asked

"A muggle vehicle of war, its weapons are lethal to over a mile, is very heavily armoured and difficult to destroy, by any means," Sirius explained.

Everyone stared at him.

"I said I took muggle studies," Sirius grumbled.

"And we _still_ can't believe _you_ paid attention," Harry replied, ducking the cushion Sirius threw at him.

**"Shame about not finding Flamel, though. Have some bacon or something, why aren't you eating anything?"**

**Harry couldn't eat. He had seen his parents and would be seeing them again tonight. He had almost forgotten about Flamel. It didn't seem very important anymore. Who cared what the three headed dog was guarding? What did it matter if Snape stole it, really?**

"Harry, I don't think you should go back," Lily whispered.

"I know. It's dangerous," Harry replied.

**"Are you all right?" said Ron. "You look odd."**

**What Harry feared most was that he might not be able to find the mirror room again. With Ron covered in the cloak, too, they had to walk much more slowly the next night. They tried retracing Harry's route from the library, wandering around the dark passageways for nearly an hour.**

**"I'm freezing," said Ron. "Let's forget it and go back."**

**"No!" Harry hissed. "I know it's here somewhere."**

**They passed the ghost of the Grey Lady gliding in the opposite direction, but saw no one else. just as Ron started moaning that his feet were dead with cold, Harry spotted the suit of armor.**

**"It's here - just here - yes!"**

**They pushed the door open. Harry dropped the cloak from around his shoulders and ran to the mirror.**

**There they were. His mother and father, grandparents and sister beamed at the sight of him.**

**"See?" Harry whispered.**

**"I can't see anything."**

**"Look! Look at them all... there are five of them..."**

**"I can only see you."**

**"Look in it properly, go on, stand where I am."**

**Harry stepped aside, but with Ron in front of the mirror, he couldn't see his family anymore, just Ron in his paisley pajamas.**

**Ron, though, was staring transfixed at his image.**

**"Look at me!" he said.**

**"Can you see all your family standing around you?"**

**"No - I'm alone - but I'm different - I look older - and I'm head boy!"**

**"What?"**

**"I am - I'm wearing the badge like Bill used to - and I'm holding the house cup and the Quidditch cup - I'm Quidditch captain, too."**

"Ron?" Bill asked, confused and worried for his brother.

"My heart's desire used to be to outshine the rest of the family, but I've changed. That was years ago," Ron answered.

**Ron tore his eyes away from this splendid sight to look excitedly at Harry.**

**"Do you think this mirror shows the future?"**

**"How can it? All my family are dead,"**

"Oh Harry," Ginny muttered.

**Harry looked at the inscription on the frame as Ron began posing, presumably his reflection was repeating the action.**

Ron went a bit red as everyone chuckled but Harry was shaking his head.

"Really reminded me of Malfoy there,"

Ron went completely scarlet and glared at Harry as everyone roared with laughter.

"**I Show Not Your Face But Your Heart's Desire," Harry muttered, distracting his friend.**

"**Pardon?"**

"**It's not real, it shows us our heart's deepest desire, mine is my family… everything that was and could have been," Harry said sadly, now starting to cry as he realised the cruel nature of this otherwise wonderful artefact.**

"Wonderful?"

Everyone turned to stare at the speaker, the question had cropped up in everyone's mind but they had been surprised that Dumbledore had voiced it, the man was staring at Harry with concern etched into his aged face.

"The enchantment on the Mirror was created using Ancient Magics that are now lost, it is one of a kind, it is not evil or harmful itself but human nature leaves us vulnerable to it affects. Looking at it objectively, it is an amazing feat to accomplish as it is such a subtle and intricate magic," Harry explained.

Everyone, even Dumbledore, looked surprised and thoughtful; none of them that knew of the Mirror had ever considered that particular point of view.

"**You've always lived in your brothers' shadows, so it shows you standing alone, the best of all of them," Harry continued, his words making Ron frown as he thought it over.**

"**Do I just want to be the best of all of them? Or the best **_**I**_** can be?" Ron mumbled.**

The Weasleys all smiled approvingly at Ron.

**A sudden noise outside in the corridor put an end to their discussion. They hadn't realized how loudly they had been talking.**

**"Quick!"**

**Ron threw the cloak back over them as the luminous eyes of Mrs. Norris came round the door. Ron and Harry stood quite still, both thinking the same thing - did the cloak work on cats? After what seemed an age, she turned and left.**

**"This isn't safe - she might have gone for Filch, I bet she heard us. Come on."**

**And Ron pulled Harry out of the room.**

**The snow still hadn't melted the next morning.**

**"Want to play chess, Harry?" said Ron.**

**"No."**

**"Why don't we go down and visit Hagrid?"**

**"No... you go..."**

**"I know what you're thinking about, Harry, that mirror. Don't go back tonight."**

**"Why not? There's something I've been thinking, I want to see if I'm right,"**

**"I dunno about that, but I've just got a bad feeling about it - and anyway, you've had too many close shaves already."**

"Listen to him," Sirius said.

**"Filch, Snape, and Mrs. Norris are wandering around. So what if they can't see you? What if they walk into you? What if you knock something over?"**

**"You sound like Hermione."**

Hermione raised an eyebrow at Harry and he smiled apologetically.

**"I'm serious, Harry, don't go."**

**But Harry only had one thought in his head, which was to get back in front of the mirror, he wanted to test his theory and Ron wasn't going to stop him.**

**That third night he found his way more quickly than before. He was walking fast but was quickly learning how to move quickly and quietly, fortunately his path remained clear.**

**And there they were, his family, smiling, waving and crying. But this wasn't what he came to see.**

**As Harry ran a hand over the gilded edge of the frame, he thought of what he **_**really**_** wanted, his family, the family he will have in the coming days.**

Everyone's eyes rose at that, they stared at Harry curiously.

"He's manipulating the enchantment," Lucius murmured thoughtfully.

"Is that possible? It is a fairly sophisticated piece of magic," Regulus wondered aloud.

**The reflection shimmered, then changed.**

**There was Harry, a very pretty girl was standing next to him, she had long, curly brown hair, chocolate brown eyes, fair skin and a patch of freckles on her nose.**

**They had an arm wrapped around each other's waists and were smiling happily at each other before looking at him, affection shining bright in their eyes.**

**He was older, taller, no doubt still shorter than Ron though, **

"OI!"

**he was broader too, like he'd recovered from his time at the Dursleys although still looking a little thin.**

**He was wearing a dark crimson, scale mail reinforced tunic, similar to a Wehrmacht uniform jacket from WWII, over a dark shirt and trousers and heavy boots, there was a short sword in a scabbard on his belt, a gun holster on his thigh and what looked like a wand bracer on each arm.**

**The tunic had gold trim and an intricately etched shield with an elaborate letter G in front of a fortress gate on the left breast just below where the Swastika would be on a muggle uniform.**

"A Gringotts Ward-Breaker," Bill realised. Ward-Breakers were an Elite division of the curse breakers, they were the ones who secured a tomb or repository for curse breakers to work, this meant that they were well versed in most forms of magical and muggle combat as many Norse and Egyptian tombs were seldom unguarded, especially by their residents. He could count over thirty times a Ward-Breaker had saved him from Draugr or a Mummy, and even a vampire once.

**The girl was wearing stylised dark blue robes with the Ministry of Magic symbol on the right breast and a Department Badge showing a kite shield in front of two crossed wands with a set of scales behind them, on the left breast.**

"Wizengamot Prosecutor," James murmured. Technically that was one of the only higher end posts in the Ministry that a muggleborn could fill, but most didn't know enough about Wizard laws and customs, especially Family customs, to make it, but those that did often became respected members of society as it was an extremely difficult post to fill and thrive in, the Pureblood Supremacists held the belief that any muggleborn who was successful was worthy of being an equal to them.

**Behind and to their right was his parents, older but not by much, they were standing in front of a large portrait of his grandparents, but this time they weren't alone.**

**On his father's left was a tall man with wavy black hair and his grandmother's grey eyes. He was fairly handsome, **

"Fairly?"

"He's not finished yet, mutt,"

**but his face was gaunt, like he'd nearly wasted away to a skeleton and recovered.**

Sirius, Remus and Minerva were scared by how accurate this was turning out to be.

**On his mother's right, was a tall brown haired man with bright brown eyes and faded scars on his face, and a familiar pink haired woman holding a baby whose hair was switching between violet, brown and Turquoise.**

Remus and Tonks started, looked at each other, and then looked away, blushing as everyone either cheered or whistled.

'**That's Tonks', Harry thought, a sixth year Hufflepuff he'd met a week before Halloween when she'd gone skinny dipping in the lake on a dare and the twins had stolen her clothes.**

There were quite a few giggles and chuckles but most kept quiet as a very red Tonks glared threateningly at them.

**He'd seen her trying to sneak back to her dorm while exploring as a collie but kept to the shadows so she didn't notice him, he then ran on ahead of her, transformed, dropped his cloak, transformed again and the walked back towards her, barking softly when she saw him before playfully leading her to the 'lost' cloak.**

Tonks rolled her eyes as Harry transformed and started jumping around, even playing a quick game of fetch.

**She smiled gratefully at the dog before putting on the cloak, which only just covered her modesty, and headed back to her dorm, she'd then returned the cloak at breakfast the next day.**

**Both men looked familiar, like forgotten uncles. He also seemed to think of a black wolf and a large black dog as he looked at them.**

"Close enough," Sirius said, trying not to cry.

**On the other side of the reflection was the girl from last night, his sister, older and looking like a younger, hazel eyed version of their mother, standing next to, hugging and being hugged by… Fred Weasley?**

Everyone did a double take, except Violet who blushed furiously and glared at Harry, and Fred who stared at the girl before blushing and smiling a little shyly at her.

**Harry didn't know what to think of that… Fred? At least George was the calm one but he'd been making stag eyes at Angelina since before Halloween.**

George blushed and glared at Harry as his brothers and friends laughed.

**He turned away from that mystery to look back at himself and the girl next to him, but she turned her head to face him and smiled, he knew that smile… Wait! **

"**Hermione?" Harry whispered, the reflection Hermione smiled happily and turned to Reflection Harry and kissed him on the cheek before pulling reflection Harry closer and laying her head on his shoulder and a hand on his chest. It was then he noticed a silver ring on her hand, silver with two emeralds and a diamond, and a similar ring on reflection Harry's other hand.**

**What did this mean… did he like Hermione? Well… yes, he did… but did he like her like that?**

'**Maybe' Harry thought, stepping away from the mirror a bit. 'After all, I never knew love from the Dursleys. If she feels the same , maybe we can find out together.'**

Most of the girls were drying their eyes, and the guys were smart enough not to say anything.

**He sat down and stared at the mirror, thinking on what it was now showing him, wondering if was what **_**could **_**be or what **_**would**_** be**

**Except -**

**"So - back again, Harry?"**

"Who's there?" Tonks asked.

**Harry felt as though his insides had turned to ice. He looked behind him. Sitting on one of the desks by the wall was none other than Albus Dumbledore. **

"Just Dumbledore, you'll be ok," prongs said relieved.

**Harry must have walked straight past him, so desperate to get to the mirror he hadn't noticed him.**

"You really need to stay away from that thing," Remus advised.

**" - I didn't see you, sir."**

**"Strange how near sighted being invisible can make you," said Dumbledore, and Harry was relieved to see that he was smiling.**

**"So," said Dumbledore, slipping off the desk to sit on the floor with Harry, "you, like hundreds before you, have discovered the delights of the Mirror of Erised."**

"Delights?" Lily asked in disbelief.

**"I didn't know it was called that, Sir."**

**"But I expect you've realized by now what it does?"**

**"It - well - it shows me my family – or what may become my family"**

**"And it showed your friend Ron himself as head boy."**

**"How did you know -?"**

**"I don't need a cloak to become invisible," said Dumbledore gently. "Now, can you think what the Mirror of Erised shows us all?"**

**Harry shook his head, "I think it's a person's desires, but by your amused look I may be wrong," he said.**

**"Almost, but not quite. Let me explain. The happiest man on earth would be able to use the Mirror of Erised like a normal mirror, that is, he would look into it and see himself exactly as he is. Does that help?"**

**Harry thought. Then he said slowly, "It shows our greatest desire?"**

**"Yes and no," said Dumbledore quietly. "It shows us nothing more or less than the deepest, most desperate desire of our hearts. You, who have never known your family, see them standing around you. Ronald Weasley, who has always been overshadowed by his brothers, sees himself standing alone, the best of all of them.**

"Oh, Ron," Molly sighed.

"I've already said I don't think like that anymore," Ron said. "The previous night was a real kick in the butt."

"It shouldn't have got to that in the first place," Charlie explained.

**I must congratulate you on making him realise the foolishness of that, Harry.**

**However, this mirror will give us neither knowledge or truth. Men have wasted away before it, entranced by what they have seen, or been driven mad, not knowing if what it shows is real or even possible.**

**"The Mirror will be moved to a new home tomorrow, Harry, and I ask you not to go looking for it again. If you ever do run across it, you will now be prepared. It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live, remember that. Now, why don't you put that admirable cloak back on and get off to bed?"**

**Harry stood up.**

**"Sir - Professor Dumbledore? Can I ask you something?"**

**"Obviously, you've just done so," Dumbledore smiled. "You may ask me one more thing, however."**

**"What do you see when you look in the mirror?"**

"That's rather personal!" Lily scolded.

Harry shrugged, "I was eleven and curious".

**"I? I see myself holding a pair of thick, woollen socks."**

A few people laughed.

**Harry stared.**

**"One can never have enough socks," said Dumbledore. "Another Christmas has come and gone and I didn't get a single pair. People will insist on giving me books."**

"We know what to get you next year," the twins chorused.

**It was only when he was back in bed that it struck Harry that Dumbledore might not have been quite truthful. **

**But then, he thought, as he shoved Scabbers off his pillow, it had been quite a personal question.**

"It certainly was, Well that's it," Charlus said.

"One more chapter and then bed, I think," Molly said, everyone murmured an agreement.

"Can I read next?" Frank asked.

Charlus passed him the book.

"**Chapter Thirteen, Nicolas FLamel," **Frank read.


	15. Chapter 15-Nicolas Flamel

Nicolas Flamel

"**Chapter Thirteen, Nicolas Flamel,"** Frank read.

"So you finally find out who he is," Evans said, frowning as the feeling she should know the answer increased.

"Yes, we finally find out," Harry confirmed.

**Dumbledore had convinced Harry not to go looking for the Mirror of Erised again,**

"Good," Lily said.

**and for the rest of the Christmas holidays the invisibility cloak stayed folded at the bottom of his trunk.**

"Not good," Sirius, James and Remus said.

Lily glared at them.

**Harry wished he could forget what he'd seen in the mirror as easily, but he couldn't. **

**He started having nightmares. **

**Over and over again the memory of his mother's murder haunted his nightmares.**

"Oh, Harry," Lily whispered.

**"You see, Dumbledore was right, that mirror could drive you mad," said Ron, when Harry told him about his nightmare.**

Ron ducked as Hermione threw a cushion at him at the same time that Lavender went to slap him and Ginny fired a hex at him.

"That's why he never confides in us about things like this," Hermione scolded, not happy she was only finding out now how long he'd been having nightmares.

**After that he decided not to tell Ron or anyone else about the other dreams he had.**

Hermione glared at Ron.

**His dreams alternated between subjects, the first was much more pleasant than the others; it usually involved him being alone with an older Hermione, much like how he'd seen her in the mirror, walking together in the castle, sitting down by the lake or even having a picnic in the training grounds and watching the Gryffindor quidditch team practice.**

That surprised everyone, who stared at Harry, who had gone bright red, and Hermione who could only stare at Harry in surprise.

**The second was much less pleasant; it usually began with him and Hermione walking or sitting together in Diagon Alley or a strange underground complex that had buildings like the alley but covered in green and maroon tiles that made them look like a Victorian Tube station.**

Several people looked surprised at how accurate his description of the current Ministry building was.

**They would just be talking for a few moments, before an explosion would come from somewhere behind them. The smoke would clear to reveal two dozen or so men and women in black robes and hoods wearing silver masks, they'd spread out and start firing curses into the crowd, the green curse that killed his mother and several others, as DMLE regulars and Aurors attempted to fight them back.**

**The fight would continue for several minutes, the people in masks and the DMLE being fairly evenly matched in skill as Harry and Hermione made their way towards a set of lifts, occasionally firing a curse or two at the people in masks.**

**Suddenly Hermione would be hit by a blood red curse and scream in agony, a sound that pierced his soul every time.**

**She'd fall toward him and he'd try to catch her only for that sickly green curse to hit her first, causing her limp form to fall into him.**

**He'd fall to his knees as he held her, tears streaming down his face as he gazed into her empty and unseeing eyes.**

Several people were crying now, including Hermione.

**He'd look up as a figure in a long robe came into his peripheral vision, a figure with a long black robe wearing a hood that shrouded the face in complete darkness and holding a pale wand in a single ghostly hand.**

**The wand would be raised and a cold voice would shout an unintelligible curse before a burst of green light, which is when he woke up.**

**He didn't tell Ron or anyone else about these dreams, truthfully, he was unsure what they meant.**

**Hermione, who came back the day before term started, took a different view of things. She was torn between horror at the idea of Harry being out of bed, roaming the school three nights in a row ("If Filch had caught you!"), and disappointment that he hadn't at least found out who Nicolas Flamel was.**

**It took Harry several days before he could look Hermione in the eye after what he'd seen in the mirror, he just hoped she hadn't noticed.**

"I noticed," Hermione said quietly before kissing him softly, "and I understand."

**Neville was similar when he came back but was a bit more laid back as he hadn't found anything either.**

**They had almost given up hope of ever finding Flamel in a library book, even though Harry was still sure he'd read the name somewhere.**

"I did," Harry said.

"Where?" Charlie asked.

"Somewhere," Neville answered.

**Once term had started, they were back to skimming through books for ten minutes during their breaks. Harry had even less time than the other two, because Quidditch practice had started again.**

James, Sirius, padfoot, prongs and Regulus cheered.

**Wood was working the team harder than ever. Even the endless rain that had replaced the snow couldn't dampen his spirits. The Weasleys complained that Wood was becoming a fanatic,**

"Becoming?" Fred asked.

"He was, and remains to this day, a fanatic," George continued.

"If you two didn't muck around so much, he would have gone easier on ALL of us," Harry reminded them.

**but Harry was on Wood's side.**

"Traitor!" the twins yelled as James smiled proudly.

**If they won their next match, against Hufflepuff, they would overtake Slytherin in the house championship for the first time in seven years. **

"Yes!"

**Quite apart from wanting to win, Harry found that he had fewer nightmares when he was tired out after training.**

"Oh, Harry," Lily and Hermione said together.

**Then, during one particularly wet and muddy practice session, Wood gave the team a bit of bad news. He'd just gotten very angry with the Weasleys, who kept dive-bombing each other and pretending to fall off their brooms.**

**"Will you stop messing around!" he yelled. "That's exactly the sort of thing that'll lose us the match! Snape's refereeing this time,**

Sirius, padfoot, prongs, Charlie and Tonks fell out of their chairs, James would have but Lily kept him in place.

"He's what?" Charlie whispered.

**and he'll be looking for any excuse to knock points off Gryffindor!"**

"Nothing new there," the twins, Harry, Ron and Neville muttered.

**George Weasley really did fall off his broom at these words.**

**"Snape's refereeing?" he spluttered through a mouthful of mud.**

"I was picking grass out of my teeth for a week," George commented.

**"When's he ever refereed a Quidditch match? He's not going to be fair if we might overtake Slytherin."**

"EXACTLY!" shouted prongs.

**The rest of the team landed next to George to complain, too.**

**"It's not my fault," said Wood. "We've just got to make sure we play a clean game, so Snape hasn't got an excuse to pick on us."**

"He's going to pick on you no matter what," Sirius muttered.

**Which was all very well, thought Harry, but he had another reason for not wanting Snape near him while he was playing Quidditch...**

**The rest of the team hung back to talk to one another as usual at the end of practice, but Harry headed straight back to the Gryffindor common room, where he found Ron and Hermione playing chess. Chess was the only thing Hermione ever lost at, something Harry and Ron thought was very good for her,**

"Gits," Hermione muttered fondly.

**It kept her grounded, reminding her that she's human and all humans are flawed creations, or at least that's how Harry rationalised it.**

Hermione blushed and then smiled at her boyfriend.

**"Don't talk to me for a moment," said Ron when Harry sat down next to him, "I need to concen -" He caught sight of Harry's face. "What's the matter with you? You look terrible."**

"Thanks," Harry muttered.

"No problem," Ron replied, smiling.

**Speaking quietly so that no one else would hear, Harry told the other two about Snape's sudden, sinister desire to be a Quidditch referee.**

"He can't even fly well," prongs scoffed.

Severus went red.

"He's not that bad, he only looks bad compared to me or you," Harry retorted.

"How can you stand up for him?" padfoot asked.

"He managed to stay on his broom when anyone else would have fainted in fright from a _REALLY _close call," Harry explained. "That is an achievement, no matter how good you are."

**"Don't play," said Hermione at once.**

**"Say you're ill," said Ron.**

**"Pretend to break your leg," Hermione suggested.**

**"Really break your leg," said Ron.**

"Like that would work," moony scoffed.

**"I can't," said Harry. "There isn't a reserve Seeker. If I back out, Gryffindor can't play at all."**

"I wonder why only us and the Slytherins don't have reserve players right now," Harry wondered aloud.

**At that moment Neville toppled into the common room. How he had managed to climb through the portrait hole was anyone's guess, because his legs had been stuck together with what they recognized at once as the Leg-Locker Curse.**

"What happened?" Frank growled.

"Malfoy," Neville answered.

**He must have had to bunny hop all the way up to Gryffindor tower.**

"You poor dear," Alice cooed.

Neville blushed, to the rest of his friend's amusement.

**Everyone fell over laughing except Harry and Hermione,**

"Ron!" Molly scolded.

"Sorry" Ron said.

**who leapt up and performed the counter curse. Neville's legs sprang apart and he got to his feet, trembling. "What happened?" Hermione asked him, leading him over to sit with Harry and Ron.**

**"Malfoy," said Neville shakily as he got up. "I met him outside the library. He said he'd been looking for someone to practice that on."**

"Prat," Prongs muttered.

Evans raised an eyebrow at him but said nothing.

**"Go to Professor McGonagall!" Hermione urged Neville. "Report him!"**

**Neville shook his head.**

**"I don't want more trouble," he mumbled.**

**"You've got to stand up to him, Neville!" said Ron. "He's used to walking all over people, but that's no reason to lie down in front of him and make it easier."**

"You may have a point but you should have been nicer," Arthur said.

**"There's no need to tell me I'm not brave enough to be in Gryffindor, Malfoy's already done that," Neville choked out.**

**Harry felt in the pocket of his robes and pulled out a Chocolate Frog, the very last one from the box Hermione had given him for Christmas. He gave it to Neville, who looked as though he might cry.**

"That was nice of you Harry," Frank said.

"Thank-you," Alice added.

"No need to thank me. Neville's me friend," Harry shrugged.

"That's something Lily would do," Remus said. "And be proud of you for."

"I am proud of him," Lily told him before smiling at her son.

Harry blushed, but smiled back.

**"You're worth twelve of Malfoy," Harry said. "The Sorting Hat chose you for Gryffindor, didn't it? Not Hufflepuff. Not Ravenclaw. Not Slytherin. It chose Gryffindor, you wouldn't be here if you didn't belong. Being brave isn't about not being afraid, it's about continuing despite being afraid, pushing through your fear to overcome any obstacle, to achieve any goal. That's more than Malfoy is, he's been taught the world will be handed to him on a silver plate, and now he's out in the world he refuses to change despite the world being very different. He doesn't work, he makes his cronies dirty their hands. He expects everyone to bow down because of his name, no one in their right mind does because there's no reason to. And while he screams and whines because people ignore him you'll be making your own place in the world, your own name and people will respect for what you've done, what you've made of yourself."**

Everyone looked at Harry in amazement.

**Neville's lips twitched in a weak smile as he unwrapped the frog.**

**"Thanks, Harry... I think I'll go to bed... D'you want the card, you collect them, don't you?"**

**As Neville walked away, Harry looked at the Famous Wizard card.**

**"Dumbledore again," he said, "He was the first one I ever-"**

**He gasped.**

"What?"

**He stared at the back of the card. Then he looked up at Ron and Hermione.**

**"I've found him!" he whispered.**

"What? On a frog card?" Charlie asked incredulously.

"On a frog card," Harry confirmed.

Several people groaned while prongs and padfoot and James and Sirius glared at moony and Remus who stared at Harry.

"One of you made the room make us forget, didn't you?" Remus asked.

"Except for the Frog card connection," Harry admitted, smiling as more groans were heard and the glares to moony and Remus increased.

**"I've found Flamel! I told you I'd read the name somewhere before, I read it on the train coming here**

"On the back of a chocolate frog card," Bill laughed.

**- listen to this: **_**'Dumbledore is particularly famous for his defeat of the dark wizard Grindelwald in 1945, for the discovery of the twelve uses of dragon's blood, and his work on alchemy with his partner, Nicolas Flamel'**_**!"**

"Only you three," Tonks laughed.

**Hermione jumped to her feet. She hadn't looked so excited since they'd gotten back the marks for their very first piece of homework.**

Hermione blushed.

**"Stay there!" she said, and she sprinted up the stairs to the girls' dormitories. Harry and Ron barely had time to exchange mystified looks before she was dashing back, an enormous old book in her arms.**

"Only you, 'Mione," Lavender said, shaking her head.

**"I never thought to look in here!" she whispered excitedly. "I got this out of the library weeks ago for a bit of light reading."**

"Light?" padfoot said incredulously.

**"Light?" said Ron,**

Padfoot and Ron shared a look.

**but Hermione told him to be quiet until she'd looked something up, and started flicking frantically through the pages, muttering to herself.**

**At last she found what she was looking for.**

**"I knew it! I knew it!"**

**"Are we allowed to speak yet?" said Ron grumpily, looking at Harry who rolled his eyes as by now he knew better than to complain or interrupt Hermione when she was like this, in fact he was becoming pretty good at defusing her temper.**

A few people laughed.

**Hermione ignored him.**

**"Nicolas Flamel," she whispered dramatically, "is the only known maker of the Philosopher's Stone!"**

"The title of the book!" Tonks exclaimed.

"The what?" padfoot asked.

"The title of the book we are reading is '_Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'_," Tonks explained slowly.

Padfoot blinked, "You made us forget that too, didn't you?"

Harry, Hermione, Ron and Neville grinned innocently.

**This didn't have quite the effect she'd expected.**

**"The what?" said Harry and Ron.**

**"Oh, honestly, don't you two read?"**

"Nope," Ron said as Harry said, "not religiously."

Hermione, Molly, Ginny, Lily and Evans rolled their eyes.

**"Look - read that, there."**

**She pushed the book toward them, and Harry and Ron read: **_**The ancient study of alchemy is concerned with making the Sorcerer's Stone, a legendary substance with astonishing powers. The stone will transform any metal into pure gold. It also produces the Elixir of Life, which will make the drinker immortal.**_

_**There have been many reports of the Philosopher's Stone over the centuries, but the only Stone currently in existence belongs to Mr. Nicolas Flamel, the noted alchemist and opera lover. Mr. Flamel, who celebrated his six hundred and sixty-fifth birthday last year, enjoys a quiet life in Devon with his wife, Perenelle (six hundred and fifty-eight).**_

**"See?" said Hermione, when Harry and Ron had finished. "The dog must be guarding Flamel's Philosopher's Stone! I bet he asked Dumbledore to keep it safe for him, because they're friends and he knew someone was after it, that's why he wanted the Stone moved out of Gringotts!"**

"Smart girl," Moody grunted.

Hermione blushed as Minerva and Snape groaned.

**"A stone that makes gold and stops you from ever dying!" said Ron. "No wonder Snape's after it! Anyone would want it."**

"Like Voldemort," Harry whispered, making Hermione shudder.

"**Not me," Harry said quietly, making Hermione look at him in surprise.**

**"And no wonder we couldn't find Flamel in that Study of Recent Developments in Wizardry," Ron added. "He's not exactly recent if he's six hundred and sixty-five, is he?"**

"No, he is not," Dumbledore said amusedly.

**The next morning in Defense Against the Dark Arts, while copying down different ways of treating werewolf bites, Harry took notes as Neville and Ron were discussing what they'd do with a Philosopher's Stone if they had one. It wasn't until Ron said he'd buy his own Quidditch team that Harry remembered about Snape and the coming match.**

**"I'm going to play," he told Ron and Hermione. "If I don't, all the Slytherins will think I'm just too scared to face Snape. I'll show them... it'll really wipe the smiles off their faces if we win."**

**"Just as long as we're not wiping you off the field," said Hermione.**

"That makes me feel better," Lily muttered, the looks on her husband's and friend's faces showed they agreed.

**Harry hid it, but his stomach dropped nastily as she said that, he had the feeling he wouldn't feel so bad if Ron or Neville had said it.**

**As the match drew nearer, however, Harry became more and more nervous, whatever he told Ron and Hermione. The rest of the team wasn't too calm, either. **

**The idea of overtaking Slytherin in the house championship was wonderful, no one had done it for seven years, but would they be allowed to, with such a biased referee?**

"Hopefully," padfoot said.

**Harry didn't know whether he was imagining it or not, but he seemed to keep running into Snape wherever he went. At times, he even wondered whether Snape was following him, trying to catch him on his own. **

Lily looked at her former friend but said nothing.

**Potions lessons were turning into a sort of weekly torture, Snape was so horrible to Harry. **

"Severus!" Horace bellowed, making Snape flinch.

**Could Snape possibly know they'd found out about the Sorcerer's Stone? Harry didn't see how he could - yet he sometimes had the horrible feeling that Snape could read minds.**

"He can," Harry, Hermione, Ron, Neville, Lavender and Ginny said.

"And how would you know that?" McGonagall asked suspiciously.

"How do you think?" Harry answered sarcastically.

"Severus?" Minerva questioned but he wouldn't look at her, or anyone else.

"We're teaching Harry Occlumency when we get back," James whispered to Lily, Remus and Sirius.

**Harry knew when they wished him good luck outside the locker rooms the next afternoon, that Ron, Neville and Hermione were wondering whether they'd ever see him alive again. This wasn't what you'd call comforting.**

"Sorry mate," Ron and Neville said, as Hermione mumbled "sorry" without looking at him.

"It's okay, you were just worried about me," Harry said.

**Harry hardly heard a word of Wood's pep talk as he pulled on his Quidditch robes and picked up his Nimbus Two Thousand.**

**Ron, Neville and Hermione, meanwhile, had found a place in the stands next to Lavender, who couldn't understand why they looked so grim and worried, or why they had both brought their wands to the match. Little did Harry know that Ron and Hermione had been secretly practicing the Leg-Locker Curse. **

**They'd gotten the idea from Malfoy using it on Neville, and were ready to use it on Snape if he showed any sign of wanting to hurt Harry.**

"Thanks guys," Harry said.

"Anytime," They answered.

"That could have nasty consequences if used on a quidditch player in mid-air," prongs said worriedly, surprising Evans once again.

"You think," Severus said dryly.

**"Now, don't forget, it's Locomotor Mortis," Hermione muttered as Ron slipped his wand up his sleeve.**

**"We know," Ron snapped. "Don't nag."**

"Sorry," Hermione said.

"It's okay. It's what you do when you're nervous," Harry said hugging her.

**Back in the locker room, Wood had taken Harry aside.**

**"Don't want to pressure you, Potter, but if we ever need an early capture of the Snitch it's now. Finish the game before Snape can favour Hufflepuff too much."**

**"The whole school's out there!" said Fred Weasley, peering out of the door. "Even - blimey - Dumbledore's come to watch!"**

"Thank Merlin," James whispered.

"Snape won't try anything with Dumbledore there," Sirius whispered back.

"I'm not sure it's Severus," Remus whispered to them, drawing their attention as well as Lily's.

"I think Harry's right," he explained, "I think someone is using Severus as a decoy, he's refereeing the match so that he's closer if something happens."

"Maybe," James whispered, thinking about it now Harry's theory did seem a 50/50 possibility.

**Harry's heart did a somersault.**

**"Dumbledore?" he said, dashing to the door to make sure. Fred was right. There was no mistaking that silver beard.**

**Harry could have laughed out loud with relief He was safe. There was simply no way that Snape, or anyone else if it wasn't Snape, would dare to try to hurt him if Dumbledore was watching.**

**Perhaps that was why Snape was looking so angry as the teams marched onto the field, **

"Or perhaps I'm annoyed that my plan to protect you was now worthless," Snape said very quietly, but some people still heard.

**something that Ron noticed, too.**

**"I've never seen Snape look so mean," he told Neville and Hermione. "Look -they're off Ouch!"**

**Someone had poked Ron in the back of the head. It was Malfoy.**

"Again, just bugger off already," padfoot shouted.

**"Oh, sorry, Weasley, didn't see you there."**

"How can you miss him? The hair is pretty distinctive," Harry joked.

Ron glared as everyone laughed.

**Malfoy grinned broadly at Crabbe and Goyle.**

**"Wonder how long Potter's going to stay on his broom this time? Anyone want a bet? What about you, Weasley?"**

"He stayed on his broom all the last match! Even when somebody was trying to kill him!" Prongss snarled.

**Ron didn't answer; Snape had just awarded Hufflepuff a penalty because George Weasley had hit a Bludger at him.**

"George!" Mrs. Weasley shouted.

"Way to go!" padfoot exclaimed.

**Hermione, who had all her fingers crossed in her lap, was squinting fixedly at Harry, who was circling the game like a hawk, looking for the Snitch.**

**"You know how I think they choose people for the Gryffindor team?" said Malfoy loudly a few minutes later, as Snape awarded Hufflepuff another penalty for no reason at all.**

Growls rang out throughout the room.

Harry shook his head, "not true, someone from the Gryffindor stands fired a jinx at him."

**"It's people they feel sorry for. See, there's Potter, who's got no parents,**

"That little..." Sirius growled.

**then there's the Weasleys, who've got no money -**

"At least we have a loving family," Arthur said angrily, his ears turning red.

**you should be on the team, Longbottom, you've got no brains."**

"How dare he!?" Alice shrieked.

**Neville went bright red but turned in his seat to face Malfoy.**

**"I'm worth twelve of you, Malfoy," he said firmly, "unlike you; I'll make something of my life, not just sit on my arse and expect everything to be handed to me".**

"You tell him Neville!" Frank cheered.

**Malfoy stared at Neville, going a bit pink as Crabbe, and Goyle howled with laughter, but Ron, still not daring to take his eyes from the game, said, "You tell him, Neville."**

**"Longbottom, if brains were gold you'd be poorer than Weasley, and that's saying something."**

Several loud growls were heard as nearly everyone started shaking in anger.

**Ron's nerves were already stretched to the breaking point with anxiety about Harry.**

**"I'm warning you, Malfoy - one more word**

**"Ron!" said Hermione suddenly, "Harry -"**

"What's wrong?" Lily asked worriedly.

**"What? Where?"**

**Harry had suddenly gone into a spectacular dive, which drew gasps and cheers from the crowd. Hermione stood up, her crossed fingers in her mouth, as Harry streaked toward the ground like a bullet.**

"Go Harry!" prongs, padfoot, moony and Marlene cheered.

**"You're in luck, Weasley, Potter's obviously spotted some money on the ground!" said Malfoy.**

Several people ducked as Arthur banished a large vase across the room to smash it against the far wall.

**Ron snapped. Before Malfoy knew what was happening, Ron was on top of him, wrestling him to the ground.**

"Ron!" Molly shouted.

"Get him!" Bill, Charlie, Fred and George cheered.

**Neville hesitated, then clambered over the back of his seat to help.**

"Get him, Neville" Frank, prongs and padfoot yelled.

"Frank!" Alice cried.

**"Come on, Harry!" Hermione screamed, leaping onto her seat to watch as Harry sped straight at Snape - she didn't even notice Malfoy and Ron rolling around under her seat, or the scuffles and yelps coming from the whirl of fists that was Neville, Crabbe, and Goyle.**

"You show them!" Seamus shouted.

**Up in the air, Snape turned on his broomstick just in time to see something scarlet shoot past him, missing him by inches**

"Severus, I apologise for my earlier words, it does take skill to remain upright and in the air after a near miss like that," prongs said seriously to Severus, who, like Evans, looked nonplussed by prongs actually apologising to him.

"Apology accepted, Po – Prongs," Severus replied, nodding a little.

**- the next second, Harry had pulled out of the dive, his arm raised in triumph, the Snitch clasped in his hand.**

"WAHOO!" the Quidditch nuts cheered.

**The stands erupted; it had to be a record, no one could ever remember the Snitch being caught so quickly.**

**"Ron! Ron! Where are you? The game's over! Harry's won! We've won! Gryffindor is in the lead!" shrieked Hermione, dancing up and down on her seat and hugging Lavender Brown in the seat next to her.**

Both girls blushed.

**Harry jumped off his broom, a foot from the ground. He couldn't believe it. He'd done it - the game was over; it had barely lasted five minutes. **

"You beat the record!" James yelled, only Lily's weight keeping him from jumping up and dancing in celebration.

**As Gryffindors came spilling onto the field, he saw Snape land nearby, white-faced and tight-lipped - then Harry felt a hand on his shoulder and looked up into Dumbledore's smiling face.**

**"Well done," said Dumbledore quietly, so that only Harry could hear. "Nice to see you haven't been brooding about that mirror... been keeping busy... excellent..."**

**Snape spat bitterly on the ground.**

**Harry left the locker room alone some time later, to take his Nimbus Two Thousand back to the broomshed. He couldn't ever remember feeling happier. **

**He'd really done something to be proud of now - no one could say he was just a famous name any more. **

Everyone laughed as Harry went red.

**The evening air had never smelled so sweet. He walked over the damp grass, reliving the last hour in his head, which was a happy blur: Gryffindors running to lift him onto their shoulders; Ron and Hermione in the distance, jumping up and down, Ron cheering through a heavy nosebleed.**

**Harry had reached the shed. He leaned against the wooden door and looked up at Hogwarts, with its windows glowing red in the setting sun. Gryffindor in the lead. He'd done it, he'd shown Snape...**

**And speaking of Snape...**

**A hooded figure came swiftly down the front steps of the castle.**

"You followed me?" Snape said.

"To be fair, you had been acting suspiciously," Harry answered.

Snape nodded in acknowledgment as Moody grunted approvingly.

**Clearly not wanting to be seen, it walked as fast as possible toward the forbidden forest. Harry's victory faded from his mind as he watched. **

**He recognized the figure's prowling walk. **

"You can recognise someone from how they walk?" Moony asked.

"Snape is pretty distinctive in every way," Harry explained, everyone who'd been taught by the man voiced an agreement.

**Snape, sneaking into the forest while everyone else was at dinner - what was going on?**

**Harry jumped back on his Nimbus Two Thousand and took off. Gliding silently over the castle he saw Snape enter the forest at a run. He followed.**

"Of course you did," Snape muttered.

**The trees were so thick he couldn't see where Snape had gone. He flew in circles, lower and lower, brushing the top branches of trees until he heard voices. He glided toward them and landed noiselessly in a towering beech tree.**

Several of the quidditch players raised their eyebrows. "That's impressive," Regulus said.

**He climbed carefully along one of the branches, holding tight to his broomstick, trying to see through the leaves. **

**Below, in a shadowy clearing, stood Snape, but he wasn't alone. Quirrell was there, too. Harry couldn't make out the look on his face, but he was stuttering worse than ever. Harry strained to catch what they were saying.**

**"... d-don't know why you wanted t-t-to meet here of all p-places, Severus..."**

**"Oh, I thought we'd keep this private," said Snape, his voice icy. "Students aren't supposed to know about the Philosopher's Stone, after all."**

**Harry leaned forward. Quirrell was mumbling something. Snape interrupted him.**

**"Have you found out how to get past that beast of Hagrid's yet?"**

**"B-b-but Severus, I -"**

**"You don't want me as your enemy, Quirrell," said Snape, taking a step toward him.**

**"I-I don't know what you**

**"You know perfectly well what I mean."**

**An owl hooted loudly, and Harry nearly fell out of the tree. He steadied himself in time to hear Snape say, "- your little bit of hocus-pocus. I'm waiting."**

"Ahhh! The one part that explains what I'm doing and you miss it," Snape complained.

**"B-but I d-d-don't -"**

**"Very well," Snape cut in. "We'll have another little chat soon, when you've had time to think things over and decided where your loyalties lie."**

"Interesting question," James murmured.

**He threw his cloak over his head and strode out of the clearing. It was almost dark now, but Harry could see Quirrell, standing quite still as though he was petrified.**

**"Harry, where have you been?" Hermione squeaked when Harry returned to the common room.**

**"We won! You won! We won!" shouted Ron, thumping Harry on the back. "And I gave Malfoy a black eye, and Neville tried to take on Crabbe and Goyle single-handed! He's still in the Hospital wing with a broken arm**

"Oh dear," Alice said.

**but Madam Pomfrey says he'll be all right - talk about showing Slytherin! Everyone's waiting for you in the common room, we're having a party, Fred and George stole some cakes and stuff from the kitchens."**

The twins and both sets of marauders snorted, "Steal? The elves give it away," the twins said.

**"Never mind that now," said Harry breathlessly. "Let's find an empty room, you wait 'til you hear this..."**

**He made sure Peeves wasn't inside before shutting the door behind them, then he told them what he'd seen and heard.**

**"So we were right, it is the Philosopher's Stone, and Snape's trying to force Quirrell to talk about his defence. He asked if he knew how to get past Fluffy - and Then asked about Quirrell's bit, which means there's more than that dog." **

**"So you mean the Stone's only safe as long as Quirrell stands up to Snape?" said Hermione in alarm.**

**"It'll be gone by next Tuesday," said Ron.**

"**Maybe, unless Quirrell or someone else is compromised and only Snape knows," Harry continued.**

"That's it," Frank said, marking the page and putting the book down.

"Well, to bed I think," Dumbledore announced.

Everyone started talking quietly about what they'd read as they broke into smaller groups, the two groups of teens walked together to their dorms making more personal introductions.

The teachers all went to a separate dorm to the two adult dorms, and the married couples had their own rooms.

However, Lily, James, Dan, Emma, Remus, Sirius and Minerva entered a separate dorm to everyone else, where they could talk.


	16. Sleep, Parents and Questions

Reading the books

Sleep, parents and questions

The boys immediately broke into a run to claim their beds as soon as they entered the dorm, Harry could only shake his head and laugh as prongs and padfoot fought over one bed then another before settling into the pair directly opposite the door, Ron and Neville settled into their traditional places opposite Harry at a right angle to the door with the door on their right. Bill and Charlie took the beds flanking the door and the twins took the pair between Charlie and Harry with moony on Harry's right and prongs' left.

"Well, at least Hogwarts won't get boring after we leave," padfoot said, lying back on his bed and staring at the ceiling.

Harry stared at him, "I'd give up my broom and cloak just for a normal year," Neville and Ron snorted at that, "Well, as normal as it gets at Hogwarts," Harry corrected.

"Sadly it will get boring after we leave," Fred said, earning an odd look from Harry, Ron and Neville.

"No, everyone will realise that we've been framing you for our pranks for five years," Neville replied, making Fred and George glare.

"I can't wait to see Snape's face when he realises how many detentions were to the wrong people," Ron said, grinning at the thought.

"Speaking of pranks, why have we heard so little of your exploits, Harry?" prongs asked, looking at his son.

"Unlike you, I prefer to keep people guessing," Harry replied, "It wasn't until Remus started teaching, any of the staff realised that I _was_ a prankster. Minnie's face was priceless," Harry smiled at the memory.

Padfoot and prongs exchanged a gleeful look before turning to moony, "Professor Moony!"

Moony groaned and looked at Harry, who shrugged, "They'd have found out anyway," Harry said.

"Remember in third year where we stuck most of the slytherins to their benches in the great hall with duct tape," Ron said.

"Or when we fed the defence teacher a potion that made his hair fall out in second," Neville added.

"How can I forget, I was hexed into the Hospital wing for laughing by half the girls in our house," Harry scowled.

"Along with Seamus and Dean," Ron pointed out, grinning smugly as only he and Neville had kept their mouths shut that day.

"Padfoot, take notes," prongs shouted, making everyone laugh except moony who groaned loudly, making everyone laugh harder.

* * *

"_Padfoot, take notes,"_ was heard faintly through the wall followed by muffled laughter, which made some of the girls smile except one.

"My son is giving my boyfriend pranking advice," Evans said, her face showed a mix of emotion including disappointment.

"Better than the other way round," Tonks pointed out.

"No it's not, it means my son is worse than prongs," Evans argued.

"Actually, it means he's better at not getting caught," Hermione explained, smiling at Evans, "It means he's pulled fewer dangerous and stupid pranks and he doesn't do it to feed his ego."

"Ok, you've got me there," Evans admitted, falling back onto her pillows and staring at the ceiling.

"And what about _you_, Hermione, been helping with those pranks?" Marlene asked teasingly from Evans' far side.

Hermione blushed as everyone looked at her, "Not often, usually when someone deserves it," she admitted.

Marlene suddenly gave her a predatory grin, "and is Harry a good kisser?"

"Marlene!" Evans cried as Alice, Tonks, Lavender and Ginny laughed.

Hermione smiled back as Evans stared in horror at her friend, "I thought I'd died, during our first kiss, it felt so much more than anything from my wildest or most romantic dreams." She sighed as she got lost in the memory for a moment; her eyes seemed to twinkle as she thought of that cold May night over a year earlier.  
"When we got back to the common room, I couldn't help myself, when he turned to look at me after the Portrait closed; I just leaned in and kissed him. I don't know how long that kiss lasted but I never wanted it to end, when we broke apart for air Harry picked me up and carried me to his chair and sat down with me in his lap and we just stayed there until we fell asleep, after a goodnight kiss of course," she continued, her eyes still twinkling with that faraway look before glaring at Ginny. "But _someone_ decided to wake us up with a bucket of ice cold water the next morning."

Ginny flinched under Hermione's glare as Tonks and Marlene laughed.

"Sorry, but you wouldn't wake up and you would have been late for class," Ginny said.

"I was perfectly happy where I was," Hermione retorted. "And I really didn't care that day."

"I wonder why," Lavender said conspiratorially, ducking the pillow Hermione threw at her but dived into the path of the one Violet threw.

"I _don't_ want to know the details of my brother's sex life," Violet exclaimed, leaving Hermione blushing and stammering and everyone else but Evans laughing.

* * *

Two rooms over, another conversation was taking place.

"So what is happening with Harry and our daughter?" Emma asked, sitting across from Harry's family with her husband.

"Let's think about what we know," Remus said, "we need evidence before we can come up with a theory."

Sirius shook his head, "Still the same, Remus. Ok, when they met in Diagon Alley, Harry felt an immediate attraction to Hermione and felt entranced by her eyes," he said, before sending James a look that said _'Just like someone else I know'._

"Luna's liked Hermione since they met," Remus added.

"Hermione wanted to hug Harry and comfort him on the train when he was upset," James said.

"His stomach did a backflip when their eyes met before the sorting," Lily said.

"Something that was apparently common before they started dating," Remus commented, remembering the talk he had had with Harry during the November Hogsmeade weekend.

"He found certain quirks of hers cute in first year," James continued, Sirius muttered "Still does."

"He had a hunch she had a crush on him before the duel," Sirius said.

"She did have a crush on him," Emma confirmed.

"Harry was able to predict her actions or thoughts after a few weeks," Dan added, remembering the nocturnal outing before Halloween.

"They can use each other's wands easily, we saw Hermione use Harry's and I had them practice with each other's wands one afternoon after Harry asked me about it," Remus said.

"Harry's very understanding of her problems making friends," Emma said.

"When she finds him in pain before Halloween she goes out of her way to help him," Lily added.

"His first thought is to keep her safe when they meet the troll," Dan said, his voice strained.

"He can't bring himself to lie to her after the nightmare in the hospital wing afterwards," Sirius pointed out.

"She stays with him in the hospital wing," Remus added, everyone nodded as they remembered.

"When he manipulated the mirror he saw Hermione beside him," James reminded them

"And he started having dreams and nightmares about the two of them," Lily said.

"He quickly learned how to calm her down or cheer her up," James pointed out.

"She was so concerned for Harry at the Hufflepuff match she missed Ron and Malfoy fighting under her seat," Sirius finished.

Remus looked thoughtful for a moment before looking straight ahead at the opposite wall, "I think they might be soul mates, but we need to see how their relationship develops before we can know for certain," he said.

"Soul mates?" Dan asked.

"In our world, magical bonds can form between witches and wizards, they range from slave bonds to marriage bonds, but soul bonds are very different. A soul bond is where two people are destined to be each other's perfect match, their literal other half, even if they don't get along initially," Remus explained, glancing to Lily and James at the end.

"It's also one of the few magics that can affect muggles, I've often heard it called a match made in heaven," Dan and Emma looked shocked as Remus continued, "the bond is sealed on the first kiss, the sealed bond is recognised as a marriage bond and as far as magic is concerned the couple is married," Remus continued.

"So they've been married for at least two years?" Emma asked as her husband got up and started pacing the room.

"Possibly, but it may not be a soul bound, the early stages can be mistaken for the influence of certain potions or spells, but if they are soul boded they aren't aware," Remus explained.

"How could they not now?" Dan snapped, sounding harsher than he wanted to.

"Because Hermione still signs her letters with her maiden name," Emma answered.

"Besides, the magical glow given off when a soul bond seals is much more subtle than with a marriage or slave bond," Sirius added, having witnessed all three types in his lifetime, "If they had their eyes closed they could easily miss it."

Dan sighed and looked at the floor, his rational mind finally overcoming his paternal instincts and accepting the possibility.

"There has been no change to any of the school's registers, which would happen automatically, and there has been no request to keep Hermione registered under her maiden name," Minerva added.

"They could have gone over your head," Sirius pointed out.

"So what does this bond mean," Emma asked.

"If it is a soul bond, it means that once the bond is sealed they are essentially two halves of the same whole, basically where in a regular bond a couple's magic is connected by the bond a soul bonded couple has both their magic and souls connected. Attempting to break the bond or separate them will make them seriously ill or even kill them," Remus continued.

Both sets of parents looked ill as he said that.

"However, while the evidence so far hints at some type of bond, we can't be sure until we hear more," Remus concluded.

There was a heavy silence for several seconds.

"I don't know what's worse: the insane misadventures these kids get up to or the idea of my godson being married at thirteen," Sirius mumbled, earning a nod of agreement from Remus.

"I'm afraid of what we're going to hear tomorrow," Dan commented, "Hermione told us a lot in her letters but left out a _LOT_ of fine details."

"After Halloween she wrote to us about being saved from a monster by a classmate, she didn't mention that monster was a ten foot troll with a club that nearly killed them both," Emma explained.

"Why do I have a bad feeling about the last few chapters," James said.

"Because Harry doesn't do normal," Sirius said dryly as he got into the bed he picked on the guys side of the dorm.

Everyone soon climbed into bed, both married couples thinking it felt strange not to be sharing a bed with their other half.

Unknown to them, similar discussions were taking place with the other adults.

* * *

The next morning, Harry woke to find moony trying to nod off again after a nightmare and to see both prongs and padfoot had cast a clever variation of the _'Tempus'_ charm that acted as a subtle alarm clock and would wake them up without disturbing anyone else.

Harry was about to joining moony in attempting to doze off when he realised that they probably cast the charm so they prank everyone when they wake up, which gave Harry an idea.

He got up and got dressed before going over to moony, noting it was 07:00 in the morning.

"Mhmmph… hmmh… what?" moony mumbled as he woke up, blinking hard until his eyes focused on Harry.

"Keep it down moony, I've got a plan to wake up prongs and padfoot, interested in a little revenge prank with a taste of poetic justice?" Harry said, with a grin just like his father's when he planned a prank.

"What do you have in mind?" moony asked, now wide awake. He was more inclined towards pranking than his older counterpart but still just as wary of a scheming Potter.

Harry outlined his plan and his grin was quickly mirrored on moony's face, "Brilliant" was the only reply.

Harry waited as moony dressed, carefully taking down the wards his targets had placed around their beds, before carefully collecting their wands.

When he was dressed, moony transfigured a chair into a metal bath lined with a cotton sheet the length and width of prongs' mattress and filled it with water and several small blocks of ice and placed it next to prongs' bed.

Harry, however, had transformed by now and was inching along padfoot's bed in, what some dog breeders called, a collie crouch, moving very slowly and carefully until his snout was inches from padfoot's face, he turned to look at moony, who was waiting by prongs' bed with his wand ready, he nodded and turned back to padfoot.

Padfoot was currently dreaming about a certain black haired witch in a state of undress when something warm and wet raked across his cheek.

His mind suddenly was wide awake but the warm wet thing raked his face again before he could open his eyes.

"Wha…" padfoot spluttered his eyes shot open but his left eye was shut again as a collie's wet tongue licked his cheek before passing over his eye and into his hairline trailing slobber before returning to his jawline and travelling up again at a rate padfoot didn't think was possible.

Very quickly padfoot was loudly and ineffectively attempting to defend his face from the same canine tongue that had attacked his older (and less handsome) counterpart.

"Wha… no! …stop! Prongs… moony.. hel…HELP ME!"

"Humh… huh?" prongs muttered slowly waking up until…

BUUUUURRRRR-UUUMMMMHHH

Neville, Ron and Charlie would later swear a balled up white and mahogany furred collie rolled past, propelled by the blast from an inhumanely loud foghorn only to come to a stop when it's forehead struck the door with a loud THUD.

"Ahhh…" SPLASH! "_AAARRRRGGGHHHH!_"

Moony waited for Harry to start licking padfoot and prongs to be disturbed before conjuring the cone of a foghorn and setting it off after ensuring his ears were protected.

He then charmed the foghorn to let off the loudest blast his ear protection could take.

Prongs jumped a foot in the air, moony switched his mattress for the lightly iced over bath tub, prongs broke through the thin surface ice and fell into a tub of water colder than the waters of the Bering Strait, before jumping again and screaming in a higher pitched voice than any intact male should be able to.

For a few seconds everyone was clutching their heads, their ears ringing like cathedral bells, before prongs suddenly started loudly exclaiming in gibberish, loud clanging was heard as he struggled to maintain the fine motor control he needed to climb out of the bath tub because of the shivering and kicked the sides several times before he managed to roll out and onto his missing mattress, where he wrapped himself up in his bed covers and glared at moony, his uttered curses and threats made unintelligible by his chattering teeth.

Everyone's attention was drawn to the door by a canine-like whine and whimper, to find a small collie against the door in a heap, cross eyed and looking very sorry for itself.

Unfortunately for the collie, there was a loud growl and bark, just before a large black dog charged from the pile of sheets on padfoot's bed and jumped at the collie, which only had time to uncross it's eyes before the black dog crashed into it, slamming the both of them into the door and forcing both it open and them to roll through in a messy ball of limbs and fur.

* * *

James was lying awake, having woken several minutes ago, and was thinking of his family, specifically how much his son had been through, how much he and Lily had missed, how happy he was that his daughter was with them and how strange it felt not to wake up beside his wife.

His musing was broken by the sound of a foghorn going off, followed immediately by a high pitched scream.

He sat bolt upright, before jumping out of bed, throwing on his robe and heading for the door, mere seconds behind Dan and Remus behind him.

The ran into the main room, there was a loud BANG from the boy's dorm that made James reach for his wand, only to find it missing and remember Harry had taken it off him during the first quidditch game, only to be distracted as a large, furry black, white and brown ball burst from the door of the boy's dorm, colliding with the nearest chair, which sent the white and brown half of the furry ball flying over the chair, to land on the far side.

James and Remus watched the familiar black mutt whine, roll over, and recover its bearings, before glancing around until a familiar white, brown and black furred head pooped up on the other side of the armchair.

The black dog frowned at the collie which seemed to send the grim-like dog a familiar grin before sticking its tongue out at the black dog and led the now very annoyed marauder on a lively chase around the room.

James, Remus and Dan could only stare as the collie led the grim on an obstacle course over the furniture, stopping only to mock the grim when it tripped.

The three laughed as the collie danced around the fallen grim for the third time, but stopped when Lily, Minerva and Sirius ran out from their dorm with their wands in hand, along with the other teachers and adults.

They all watched the two dogs for a moment before heading into the boy's dorm, to find several amused but mildly annoyed boys laughing at a nearly mummified prongs, who was still muttering curses and threats in gibberish because of how hard his teeth were chattering.

Minerva, McGonagall, Dorea and Horace went to check on prongs as moony explained the prank, getting a telling off from Minerva, Molly and Lily for scaring them, until Frank pointed out this had happened several times before to moony, him or padfoot.

Outside, both Harry and padfoot had been pulled apart by their girlfriends, and Hermione wasn't very amused by the prank, but relented when Harry apologised and gave her the cutest puppy eye look ever.

Everything wound down from there, with everyone getting dressed and heading out for breakfast.

Soon the room was filled with chatter and laughter, with padfoot and prongs sulking as nearly all the teens and their older counterparts complimenting Harry and moony on the prank.

Eventually, after padfoot and Ron ad finished their fifth helpings of breakfast, everyone settled back into their seats to continue reading.

"Who wants to read?" Frank asked.

"May I?" Bill asked.

Frank passed him the book and Bill cleared his throat, **"Chapter Fourteen, Norbert the Norwegian Ridgeback,"** he read.


	17. Author's Note 1

**Author's Note**

**It has been brought to my attention that this story is classified by some, so far by members of critics united, as an MST, which made me wonder what an MST was as I've never actually seen the term defined on this site.**

**After reading the definition I would like to ask specifically how my story classes as an MST.**

**I would also like to mention that this story features non-canon relationships and events, meaning I am adding my own sections and have already done so, so if I do that does it still count as an MST.**

**I would also like to ask if all "Reading the Books…" stories count as MSTs, if so why are **_**any**_** on this site.**

**I would also like to thank everyone who has Faved or follows this story and I intend to continue this story if permitted.**

**Stevebond1990**


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